A Curse I Chose To Bear
by RestrictedEyes92
Summary: He has a mission. One he will complete. Even with the semblance he has. Especially with the semblance he has. He will see it completed eventually, or at least until his semblance takes him. He is the son of Qrow Branwen, surely that means he has the skills to do so...right? *Currently in Vol. 3*
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is the first time I am doing this so I don't know how well I am going to do all that well. Please keep this in mind.**

Beacon Academy: A prestigious school for some of the most promising and upcoming Huntsman and Huntresses. This is what most people think of when they think of Beacon Academy, and it is true. But at the current moment in time, it's not all that active. This is due to the fact that the current school year has yet to start. Though this doesn't mean there is no activity. The professors were currently all working diligently in preparation for the upcoming school year which was mere weeks away. Up high in the tower above the rest of the school sat an office that seemed more like the inside of a giant clock. This office belonged to the headmaster of the school Professor Ozpin. Ozpin was a man who seemed older than he let on with glasses, a black outfit and green scarf. Currently he was facing his worst rival of his life: Paperwork. All things had to be in order for the upcoming year, and right now he was dealing with the most important part of it. He was looking through all the possible entries of students who would be attending their first year at his academy. Some of the students for this year were already selected some time ago, but there was always those were a little late in submitting entries. He sipped his mug that he seemed to have continuously fixated to his hand while his cane sat next to him against his desk. It was these days he dreaded but knew were worth it in the end for the end result 4 years later, though that didn't mean he wouldn't appreciate a distraction every now and then.

Just as he finished that very thought Ozpin's scroll preceded to ring surprising the headmaster. He thanked whoever heard his thought and took out his scroll to see who was calling, only to stare in surprise at a name he hadn't expected to see for some time.

Qrow Branwen.

It wasn't that the headmaster was against speaking to Qrow, it was just that he was supposed to be on a mission right now maintaining silence. So it was odd to see Qrow calling him. It was likely to be important so Ozpin answered.

"Qrow, I thought you were…busy"

"Hey Oz, yeah I am, but somethings come up that I had to get into contact with you."

"Oh? And what is so important to call me all of a sudden? Not that I'm not grateful for the distraction from the dreads of paperwork."

"Dreads of Paperwork huh?" Qrow asked, amusement seeping through the scroll.

"Indeed. The school year approaches, so I must get things in order."

"Well then it's a good thing I called now."

"And why is that?"

"He's ready." Ozpin halted at that.

"He's ready? Are you sure?" Ozpin asked to make sure he understood. He wasn't expecting something like this if it was the case.

"Yea, told me himself. He's been working at it trying to make sure it doesn't get out of control and he even went into small villages for long periods of time. Had no issues whatsoever."

"That is wonderful news Qrow." Ozpin was very glad to hear this. He could also hear the small bit of pride in Qrows voice. He knew this was a big deal to Qrow, as it would be for anyone. "So I take it that he will be attending this year?"

"Yeah. Said it would take him a while to get there, but provided he doesn't have any problems getting there, he should make it just as initiation is happening or just after."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure he'll do well Qrow."

"Heh yeah, I have no doubts about that. He's my son after all."

After the call with Qrow, Ozpin proceeded to return to his paperwork glad for Qrow and looking forward to see how his son would do. He hoped things would work out for him, especially given his circumstances. A while later Ozpin came across a student entry for one Jaune Arc. Now, Ozpin was no fool, he knew the transcript was fake. He would allow him in, he saw potential in young Mr. Arc. However, now with the addition of Qrow's son, there would unfortunately be one less place for someone to take. So it was with at least some reluctance that Ozpin placed the boys entry form in the rejected pile.

Deep in the wilderness far from the prestigious academy, a lone figure in a cloak sat by a makeshift camp. Staring at their scroll as they received messages from someone simply labeled as "Dad". This was it, the moment he knew was coming and had been working towards for a long time. He honestly wasn't expecting it to come to some degree. But he knew it had been, it just seemed a lot farther away up until this moment.

There was no going back now, not that he ever would. He had a goal, and he would see it through to the end, just as he had promised so long ago. That day…he wondered what they were like now, or if they even remembered him. He hadn't seen them in…what 4 years? 5 years? He honestly couldn't remember, as its hard to tell all the way out in the middle of nowhere. But now was not the time for that, as he had a school to get to. He packed up his things and camping equipment and with a quick look at which direction he needed to be heading, he set off for his future.

"I hope you were right about this"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Initiation and Reunion

Ruby Rose was excited, nervous, near giddy, wanting to hide in a dark corner, and feeling like she might be sick. Of course this was all cleverly concealed deep inside herself…she hoped. It was almost mind boggling that she was here, at Beacon Academy, a place she didn't think she would actually get into. Let alone the fact that somehow the headmaster himself, Professor Ozpin, personally allowed her in 2 years ahead of when she normally would've. She had sat beside herself for hours afterwards debating if it was all real or if she really should be allowed in yet. Of course her sister and dad had continually tried to reassure her it was real and that she would do well. It didn't help that every other thing they said was filled with praise and comments that held words like "baby sister" and "baby girl". She loved Yang and her dad, but it was tiring at times.

Currently she was collecting her things for initiation that was about to start soon. She was suddenly brought out of her inner turmoil when she felt her scroll vibrate in her pocket. Taking it out showed her she had gotten a message. She expected it to be her dad, worrying about her and asking if she was ok. However, to her surprise, it was her uncle Qrow.

Qrow: "I hear my little niece has gotten into Beacon a couple years early. Well done kid, I'm proud of ya." Ruby smiled at this. Of course her uncle would be proud, he had taught her everything she knew about fighting and being a Huntress. Of course this just made her inner turmoil worse, but she appreciated him saying it nonetheless.

Ruby: "Thanks uncle Qrow, I'll try not to let you down." She really hoped she wouldn't.

Qrow: "I'm sure you won't. But since you are at Beacon, I guess both Yang and you have a surprise heading your way." Ruby's eyes went wide. A surprise!? Did uncle Qrow get something for them present for getting into Beacon? She was very excited now.

Ruby: "A surprise!? Whatisit? Whatisit?"

Qrow: "It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you now would it? Don't worry though, it should be there soon. I'm rooting for you guys."

Ruby pouted at the refusal of her uncle to tell her just what the surprise was. Why couldn't he just tell her? If it was going to be here soon then it wouldn't matter if she knew what it was.

"Hey sis, what's with the cute pout?" Ruby suddenly turned her head and found her half-sister Yang Xiao-Long. Most people wouldn't assume them to be sisters, considering they look and nearly act nothing alike. But they have never really cared one way or another. They love each other all the same and have always been close.

"Oh I was just messaging uncle Qrow…and I do not have a cute pout!" She exclaimed.

"Whatever you say sis. Anyway, why would you messaging uncle Qrow make you pout? He teasing you?"

"No, apparently there's a surprise coming our way as he put it. But he wouldn't tell me what it is!" Yang was surprised at this. They loved their uncle Qrow, but due to…circumstances he's never around all that much. He's also not usually one to get them things outside of birthdays and the occasional holiday. But this was an important day though she supposed. It would only be natural to want to make it special.

"A surprise huh? Well I can't wait to see it. Speaking of: ready for today?" Ruby nearly perked up immediately at the thought of initiation.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk, no more 'getting to know you'. Now it's time for my sweetheart to do all the talking." Ruby said as she grabbed her weapon, a high powered rifle/scythe named Crescent Rose, and petted it affectionately as if it was a pet.

"Well remember Ruby you're not the only one going through initiation. If you wanna grow up you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together." Yang said, trying to get Ruby open to the idea of making friends. It's been something both her and her dad have been trying to get her to do for years now…with very limited success.

"Ugh you sound like dad and…" Ruby paused and started to become a bit downcast. Yang noticed this and, having heard what Ruby was saying, became nearly the same. Yang and Ruby's cousin had said the same, but they haven't seen him in a long time. They had grown up together until one day he was gone. As it was explained to them, much like his father, their uncle Qrow, he had a semblance that was unlocked and can cause harm to those around him. He still came by a few times here and there, but it's been years since they saw him. It has been hard on them, but it's been especially hard for Ruby. After losing their mother, Ruby was near distraught. She didn't want to lose more people, and not knowing if he was even still alive out there was something that had saddened her numerous of times over the years.

"Hey, I'm sure he'd say the same now." Yang said, gaining Ruby's attention. "And I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know you have gotten into Beacon just like you wanted, a whole two years early no less" Ruby smiled just a little.

"Yea, I bet he would." Yang smiled a little, glad she was able to perk her sister up a little. "Anyway, as I was gonna say, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? Also I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk." Ruby stated as she crossed her arms, as if somehow this fact removed any reason for her to socialize with people.

"What about when we form teams?"

"uh…I don't know, I'll just be on your team or something. It's not like anyone else would want me on their team." Ruby said, having stated the last part more quietly. Yang of course heard this.

"Hey, just because you haven't made any friends and got on the bad side of one person doesn't mean no one here will like you. Just give it time and get to know them. I'm sure you'll make at least one friend here." Yang said somewhat sympathizing with her sister. Ruby arrived at Beacon only to get yelled at by some girl with a strong sense of entitlement. When Ruby had finally made it into the auditorium, Yang could almost literally see the dark cloud hanging over Ruby's head. Add in 2 more encounters with her, one…semi-failed? Attempt at making a friend and no actual friends made and someone like Ruby with horrible social skills would end up like she is now.

"Maybe…" Ruby didn't seem too sure about that. Yang knew things would get better, but first they had to get to initiation.

"Cmon Ruby, things will work out don't worry. Besides we need to get going, unless you want to be late." Ruby snapped to attention at that.

"H-Hold on, I'm coming" Ruby said as she followed after Yang who was already on her way.

*Timeskip*

Pyrrha Nikos was many things: Young, athletic, pretty, a Huntress in training, self-conscious, and currently looking out for danger and a potential partner. Before initiation she was getting ready and was approached by the young heiress Weiss Schnee. While she had nothing against Weiss personally, she had gotten the impression that she might want to avoid her. They near scheming look on her face didn't help. Pyrrha sighed, knowing it was because of her…'fame'. Pyrrha didn't care about those things, she was simply trying to be the best she could be. Afterwards she and the other initiates had made their way to the side of a cliff overlooking a forest. The headmaster had told them they needed to get a relic and make it back with their partner who they would make eye contact with. Though it was slightly odd as she and a few others noticed that there was one, as it turned out to be, launch pad with no one on it. Someone had asked the headmaster this and had only been told "It's use simply isn't necessary" whatever that meant.

Pyrrha continued on her way, killing a stray grimm here or there. She had hoped to find someone who didn't know who she was or didn't act like it, but with no success. She slowly made her way forward and found the entrance to a cave. It was very dark and she had no idea if it would lead anywhere. Her intuition told her it was not a good idea to go in and, as she usually did, she listened. She proceeded onward, having never even stepped foot inside. Unfortunately for her, it seemed fate wasn't that kind, as a pair of eyes slowly opened within the cave.

*scene change*

"Our last pair has been formed sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along." Came the voice of Glynda Goodwitch, the assistant headmistress of Beacon Academy as she came up behind Professor Ozpin at the side of the cliff they launched students from. A blonde woman with green eyes who gave off a very professional/stern aura.

"I believe you are mistaken Glynda"

"Sir?" she asked confused.

"There is still one without a partner."

"You mean miss Nikos? Yes, she hasn't encountered anyone yet" Glynda informer him.

"Have you seen any sign of our other would be initiate?"

"No sir I haven't. Are you sure it's really alright to allow this young man in, even when he hasn't been present yet?" Glynda knew that the missing initiate was Qrows son, but even so she didn't see why they had to make such an exception when he wasn't there. They had already made a big exception in young Ruby Rose's case.

"He has exceptional potential as I've seen. While like his father his semblance is…problematic, it would be a tragedy to not allow him the chance now that he says he is ready." Ozpin explained. He had seen footage sent to him by Qrow and he saw about the same potential as he saw in Miss Rose, if not more so. He was always going to allow him into his school.

"Very well sir." Glynda consented. She couldn't rightly tell the headmaster what to do, but being who she was, it still didn't quite sit right with her.

*timeskip*

Today was either awesome, or a sign of this upcoming school year being a pain. Yang was inclined to believe the first one. As she and her partner, Blake, traveled they found some ruins that had what seem to be chess pieces. Picking one out ("a cute little pony") she had felt satisfied if not slightly disappointed. Sure she got to smash a bunch of grimm and stuff, but she was expecting things to be a bit more…challenging. Of course she had to go think that just before things got weird and chaotic. First her sister falls from the sky, which she just managed to save her from at the last moment. Then some girl comes barreling in on an Ursa before a boy came in behind her asking her not to do that again, which she proceeded to ignore and proclaim herself "Queen of the castle". Apparently her name was Nora, which she would remember for later. All of this was slowly getting out of hand for her when thankfully the one normal thing happened where a girl named Pyrrha slowly came into the clearing just before a pair of King Taijitu, massive two headed snakes, burst into the clearing where Nora and the boy came from. It seemed her loud proclaiming attracted more grimm. Now finally, to make matters worse, the Nevermore, a giant bird-like grim, that Ruby had apparently fallen from was circling back around to add to their troubles.

"Just one of those days" Yang said in exasperation as she, her sister, and their new collection of friends/partners entered the ruins as the nevermore was circling up ahead. The pair of King Taijitu were following behind them. Nora proceeded to blast the Nevermore away while the boy in green and her partner attempted to deal some damage to the King Taijitu. They were losing ground however as they were chased to the nearby bridge. Their escape was soon cut off as the Nevermore proceeded to destroy the very bridge they were using. Yang could see off in the distance that some of their group was cut off with the Taijitu, but she had an avian to worry about. Climbing the ruined tower with her sister and her partner, she found a good vantage point to watch it's path through the sky. Soon she found her partner arriving off the back of the Nevermore.

"It's tougher than it looks" Blake stated, having taken the opportunity she had had to slice at the Nevermore's back.

"Well, then we better give it everything we've got." Yang proclaimed, activating her gauntlets to give the grimm some much needed lead. While it might have done some damage, it certainly wasn't enough. But she knew they could still take it down. She knew this even more when her sister pitched the idea to her of cleaving off the Nevermores head. Blake tossed her weapon to her and they pulled tight, using the ribbon on her weapon as a makeshift slingshot as Ruby took position on it. Using Ruby's partners…semblance as a way to help propel her through the air and cut right through the Nevermores neck. When all was said and done, and when Yang stopped basking in how proud she was of her sister, she did take a moment to check on the others who were stuck back with the King Taijitu. Thankfully they were still alive, though the green boy looked a bit out of it. Nora looked really satisfied while helping her partner keep a little steadier. Pyrrha looked fine, if a scratch here or there.

They all met up and asked if everyone was alright. They had survived, and nearly none the worse for wear. All that was left to do was head for the cliff. Unfortunately they had begun to celebrate too soon. Just as they thought they were done, yet another grimm arrived. This time however, it was a Deathstalker. This grimm was a giant scorpion with a glowing stinger. They were nearly weary after fighting the previous grimm, but they would fight till they couldn't anymore. Slowly the Deathstalker crept forward, sizing them all up. But unfortunately for it, it wouldn't be able to do that anymore, as out of nowhere one of its eyes was blasted apart. They Deathstalker screeched in agony, while the group of 7 stared in confusion. They had all heard a loud bang and a trail of greyish purple smoke trail towards the Deathstalker. Looking back they saw a long figure standing atop one of the sections of ruins, holding what seemed to be a rifle.

*Cliffside*

"It seems he has arrived." Ozpin stated with a small smile creeping on his face.

"Yes sir. You told me he would be wearing a cloak and so I did not alert you. He seemed to arrive mid-way through the fight the other students were having and simply observed."

"Hmm, so he was giving them a chance to take the grimm down themselves."

"I suppose that is likely sir."

*back with Ruby and the others*

Ruby stared wide at the figure, who she could not discern from the distance and cloak they wore. The figure jumped down to the ground and headed toward them, or more accurately, the Deathstalker. The figure didn't seem to spare them a glance as they walked nearly inbetween them and the grimm. The rifle they had was a tad bulky, with the front half split apart and electrical discharges occasionally jumping between them. It was actually kinda cool and about nearly set off her geekiness. However, the Deathstalker was not going to let her do that, as it raged. It seemed to know this newcomer had caused it pain, and it was looking to return the favor. The figure grasped their weapon as it begun to change. The rifle barrel coming together, the gun grip collapsing and morphing into a blade as it turned into…a scythe. An actual scythe! Just like hers and uncle Qrows! The main difference though was theirs was of a black coloration with white highlights and had a couple small ornaments hanging from its head. She didn't think there were any other scythe users out there. Though for some reason it kinda looked…familiar.

The Deathstalker had had enough stalling and proceeded to attack the stranger. Fortunately the stranger was quick, they moved near fluidly around the Deathstalkers pincers and stingers attacking its legs and occasionally its face.

"Shouldn't we help?" Pyrrha asked, concern on her face.

"I mean, they seem to have things under control…but we probably should stick around and be ready to jump in." She stated, unsure herself but not wanting to get in the way. Back and forth the stranger and grimm sent attacks at each other. Finally it seemed the stranger began gaining the advantage. The Deathstalker once again sent its stinger out to pierce them, but only proceeded to miss and get it's stinger stuck in the ground. Seeing an opening, the stranger pulled back their scythe preparing before unleashing a massive swing of their scythe that was fueled by electric dust and cleaved the grimms stinger clean off it. The Death stalker wailed in agony at the loss of its stinger. The stranger wasted no time, rushing the grimm from the front and swung their scythe upward into the grimm jawline. Giving a yell of exertion, which revealed the figure to be a male, they sliced right through the grimms throat and tore out one of the sections of its jaw.

Amazement. That was the only thing Ruby and the others could feel. This one person, just took on a Deathstalker and near brutally cut it down. The stranger backed up and stood there watching the grimm dissipate before turning towards them. Slowly he began to make his way toward them. While he had saved them, they all felt a little weary about him, and what he could want. Stopping a distance, he lifted his scythe to rest on his shoulders.

"Seems you're doing well for yourself, Little Red." Ruby was taken aback by this. Little Red? He had to be talking to her, but why did he call her that. She vaguely remembers being called that before, but that was by…

"Who…are you?" She asked hesitantly. She didn't think it could be, after all why now of all times?

"Do you not remember me?" The stranger asked before he slowly lifted his hand to remove his hood and reveal his face. "I had hoped you did, though I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't." He stated. When she saw his face she gasped loudly, and could hear another behind her that obviously belonged to her sister. After what seemed like several minutes she shot straight at them, barreling them over having used her semblance and receiving an "Oof" in response. Laying there she hugged him for nearly all she was worth. He was here, he was actually here! Behind her, her sister ran and dropped giving him a near death grip hug.

"By the gods, I didn't think you guys missed me that much!" he exclaimed slowly sitting up and hugging them back.

"Of course we missed you!" Yang nearly yelled at him and punching him in the arm. Ruby couldn't control herself.

"Ohmygodyourhere! Whendidyougetherewhyhaventyouvisitedwhyareyouhereandwheredidyougetthatsupercoolweapon!?" Of course he just laughed at her excitement. He placed a hand on her head and gave a small smile.

"Sorry Little Red, I've…been busy preparing for today."

"Preparing for today? Why?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Did you not get dad's text?"

"Oh yea! He congratulated me on getting into Beacon and said a surprise was…heading…this way…" Ruby trailed off, slowly putting the pieces together just as her sister was.

"Wait, you're the surprise!?" Both exclaimed. He simply laughed at them.

"Yep, surprise! I am joining the two of you here at Beacon Academy." He revealed. Both of them stared at him, almost not believe his words. After about a minute they hugged him again, which he returned.

"Um guys?" came the voice of Pyrrha Nikos, whom the sisters forgot was still there, along with the others. "Sorry to interrupt but…who is this?" The sisters looked at each other before growing a bit sheepish. Getting off of each other the three turned to face the others.

"Sorry about that, kinda got caught up in a little reunion that's been a bit overdue." Yang said, rubbing the back of her head, slightly embarrassed that she forgot the others were there.

"Heh heh, yeah. Anyway let us introduce you." Ruby stated, as the others finally started to take in the strangers appearance. When they did, they couldn't explain it, but he made them feel…rather uneasy.

The young man was a little taller than Yang. His cloak hid most of his body, but the opening showed him to be wearing black semi fitting black pants with combat boots. He wore a grey shirt with what seemed like chainmail over it. There were brown straps encircling his torso and arms, some of which looked to hold ammo or other items while some seemed pointless. Some even seemed to be long and hang off and dangle in the wind. His hair was black with various spots with white highlights. But the part that really made them uneasy were his eyes and his presence. His eyes were different from each other. His right eye was normal and green in color, but his left eye instead of white was black with a red iris. In addition, he gave off a very…dark presence. As if he was going to find them in dark alleyway and do who knows what kind of horrific things. This was especially prevalent when they looked in his left eye only.

"This is Talon Branwen, our cousin."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Explanations and Introductions

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao-long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY, led by…Ruby Rose." Ozpin announced at the ceremony after initiation. Ruby was standing there in near shock as if she thought she heard him wrong. Weiss was shocked as well, but was not looking as if she was all that happy about her partner being leader. Yang looked perfectly ok with it all, while being a little proud. Blake kept her neutral expression. "And finally" Ozpin said, making the four girls realize they had to move on for the last group. Pyrrha, Ren and Nora all came up and took their positions, though they felt awkward with only the three of them there.

"Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. You retrieved the white rook pieces and will work together for the next four years. Unfortunately there are only three of you." Ozpin said, making the three of them very nervous that they might get sent away from the school. "Fortunately that is not a problem." Ozpin gestured his head behind them to make them look back. Coming up behind them was the newcomer Talon. "Due to distance and a late entry, Talon Branwen was unable to arrive before initiation started, and arrived during it instead. Miss Nikos, Mr. Branwen here will be your partner." Pyrrha looked at Ozpin in surprise then back to Talon. She felt glad to actually have a partner since she didn't the entire initiation. But she was very unsure about him. "The four of you will be known as…Team PLTN (Platinum) led by Talon Branwen." Ozpin Announced. A round of applause came about just as with every other team.

"Pyrrha right?" a voice came up beside her and she turned surprised toward Talon.

"Oh!...um yes that's me." She replied, feeling unsure of what to expect from him. She really didn't feel right around him and that worried her, but also frustrated her. She didn't know him and yet she felt like she was judging him.

"I apologize for arriving late, especially if you felt out of place without a partner." He stated. Pyrrha was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected him to apologize of all things. Now she just felt worse.

"Oh no it's ok, everything worked out fine." She said waving her hands in front of her, trying to assure him that it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Are you sure?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. Pyrrha hesitated seeing him do that.

"Y-yes, it really is. The important thing is that you're here."

"Alright, if you s-" Talon was cut off as suddenly Yang came up from behind him, hooking her arm around his shoulders.

"Well done cuz! Getting into Beacon and made team leader in one day. Not too shabby." Yang said grinning widely. Suddenly Ruby appeared on his other side hugging his arm.

"Yeah! It's so awesome you're gonna be here with us!" Yang's smile faltered before disappearing. She took her arm off him before lightly punching his shoulder.

"Speaking of which, where have you been!? Do you know how worried we were getting some days with no word on you?" She demanded. She knew she was making a little bit of a scene, but she wanted to know. Talon looked downward and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry. I know I should've come by a little more often, but I was trying to work on getting things under control and getting stronger so I could get into Beacon. By the time I thought about it, it was only a couple years before I could enter Beacon." Talon stated. He did want to visit them, but other things took a little more precedence. Yang still wasn't happy about it, but she knew he felt bad about it at least.

"Fine" Yang sighed. "But you're making it up to us and spending time with us during our stay here. We have a lot of family time to make up for." She said pointing a finger in his face. She was not taking no for an answer.

"Yeah! I won't accept anything less than two full plates of cookies!" Ruby stated in a childlike manner. Talon simply smiled.

"Wouldn't have it any other way. But for now I think we need to be heading to our rooms." He said showing that a large portion of the auditorium was already empty.

"Oh your right. C'mon guys, let's go!" Ruby said, getting off Talon and hurrying along. Yang and the rest of their team followed. Talon looked over to his new acquaintances/teammates.

"Let's go find our room. We can have proper introductions and discussions there." They nodded so he took off with them following. They hung back a little as Pyrrha started to whisper to Ren and Nora.

"What are your guys' thoughts?" She asked. They already knew what she was asking about. Ren decided to answer first.

"He seems more or less quiet, and judging from initiation, quite skilled if not a little brutal in the way he fights. He did not hesitate and used every opportunity he had." Ren stated, referring to how Talon had used the moment of the Deathstalkers pain filled screech to close in and rip apart its jaw. "But the feeling I get from him…I can't describe it.

"You mean that really uneasy feeling as if I find myself surrounded by a hundred Nevermores or that I'll never be able to eat another pancake for the rest of my days?" Nora jumped in, surprisingly being somewhat quiet." Pyrrha was unsure how she was supposed to take the last part of that.

"Well, outside of the pancake part, yes. It seems you feel it too. He makes me feel really…uneasy. I'm not sure how to describe it, and his apologizing to me for being late hasn't helped."

"We can ask him about it, there's no reason to assume he means us any ill will. He seemed friendly with Ruby and Yang. Besides, if he was a danger, I doubt Professor Ozpin would let him in." Ren explained. Pyrrha did see the logic and had to agree. They fell silent, still following their leader until they eventually found their room. Talon used his scroll and opened the door to find a somewhat small room with four beds. In the middle of the room were an assortment of bags were placed, which were obviously their belongings. Talon took in the room and turned toward them.

"Any preference on bed placements?" He asked, not really caring where he was. Ren spoke up first.

"I'll take one of the beds by the door." He stated walking to the one on the left side. "I tend to get up early and such, so I'll take this one as to not wake everyone up."

"I'll take the one by Ren and the window." Nora stated, skipping and bouncing onto the bed.

"Well in that case, I guess I'll take the other window bed." Pyrrha stated walking over to the bed next to Nora. Talon nodded and walked to his by the door.

"Then I guess this is mine." He stated sitting down and sighing. He reached out of his cloak with his right hand and felt the bed. "Man does an actual bed feel nice." The rest of the team stopped and looked at him oddly.

"What do you mean an actual bed?" Nora asked confused. Talon stopped and looked at them, then realized what he had said.

"Oh, it's just been a quite some time since I slept on an actual bed. I've been living in the wilderness for some time." This surprised the three of them.

"Why? Were you training?" Ren asked, as he knew some people would do such things to train in survival or would do so to get stronger without having to worry about other things such as harming others. Talon looked a little sad at Ren's question.

"Yea…something like that." The others looked at each other wondering what the matter was. "Anyway, before we do much else, I suppose we should have proper introductions since we are now a team for four years. As leader I guess I'll start. I'm Talon Branwen, as you know my cousins are Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long. My weapon is a scythe/rifle, and…I'm sorry." Talon finished. The 3 of his teammates were surprised and confused.

"Wait, why are you apologizing?" Pyrrha asked confused.

"For making you all feel uneasy and afraid." Talon said with a near straight face. He knew? How did he know? None of the three of them could think of how he did, unless he overheard them earlier. "You guys don't exactly hide it well in your facial expressions and body language." Oh…that's how. They started to feel bad that they hadn't done well at keeping it hidden. "You don't need to feel bad about it."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked confused. They shouldn't feel bad about it?

"It's something that everyone experiences with me." They just developed more confused expressions. Talon slightly raised his hand and pointed to his left eye, the red one. Doing so caused more uneasiness in them as they starred at it. "Ever since I my eye became like this, every time someone looks in my eyes they feel a sense of unease. It makes them feel as if they need to be wary, on guard or.."

"Like their worst nightmare is about to occur?" Nora interrupted.

"Nora!" Ren blurted, not liking his friends lack of tact.

"Yes." Talon answered, unfazed by it at this point.

"Wait, what do you mean that 'ever since your eye became like this'?" Pyrrha asked confused. Did he mean that his eye wasn't always like it is now?

"My eye is like this as a result of my semblance, like how Ruby creates rose petals from using hers." Talon explained.

"Oooohh, I was wondering about that! It was kinda cool but I was like 'Is she carrying a bunch of roses on her?' which would be silly." Nora said, slightly giggling.

"Your semblance is the reason for your eye being like this? What kind of semblance do you have?" Pyrrha asked confused. What semblance would give someone an eye that made everyone around you uneasy or afraid? Talon lowered his head and his eyes became covered by his hairline.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not tell you right now." The three of them became unsure if they wanted to know now. "Maybe one day I'll tell you, but right now is not the time. It'll just worry you more." It clearly made him feel uneasy trying to approach the subject so they dropped it.

"Well how about I go then for introductions" Pyrrha said changing the subject. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. I use a sword/javelin/rifle and shield. My semblance is polarity, and I hope we all get along splendidly these next 4 years." Pyrrha finished with a smile.

"3 weapons in one and a _VERY _useful semblance. Not bad." Talon said in near praise. Pyrrha grew pink a bit, still not really used to people praising her. She was glad he approved since he was leader, which is why she mentioned her semblance. As leader he should know their capabilities.

"Well I'm next!" Nora said jumping up onto her bed. "I am the one! The only! Nora Valkyrie! I use a hammer/grenade launcher. My bestest buddy is Ren. My semblance allows me to strengthen myself with electricity. I love pancakes and breaking legs! How about you!?" Nora stated all of this making various poses and ended pointing her finger at Talon as if demanding an answer to a very important question. Talon starred at her in surprise and hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Um…I guess I like breaking legs if it's someone who really deserves it, as for pancakes I don't know." Nora gasped in very dramatic fashion.

"YOU DON'T KNOW!?" She near yelled. She couldn't seem to fathom this.

"As I stated I've been living in the wilderness. Pancakes aren't exactly a part of the diet when you do that. As such I haven't had them in years. I think I liked them well enough but it's been so long I don't really remember." Nora gasped again.

"REN! We must help this poor soul and show him the wondrousness of pancakes!" Nora exclaimed before seeming to grieve for Talon, as if he was some poor sheltered soul. Ren simply sighed and gave his introduction.

"Lie Ren. I use a pair of submachine guns with blades on them. I am skilled in martial arts. My semblance allows me to mask emotions of myself and others." Ren stated, being very straight forward with his introduction.

"A very useful semblance in our line of work." Talon stated before taking a moment to look at Nora, who was still in her own world grieving, then back to Ren, then back to Nora and back to Ren again. "And she's your friend." Talon stated. Ren slightly narrowed his eyes, wondering what Talon seemed to be implying or was going with that statement.

"Yes."

"How long have you been friends?" Talon asked. Ren was becoming more confused.

"Since we were kids." After a moment Talon looked at Nora again then back to Ren.

"Has she…always been like this?" Ren was not expecting that question. Ren looked at Nora himself as if in contemplation then looked back at Talon.

"More or less I suppose." Talon took a moment to look at Nora again then back to Ren. After several more seconds he got up and walked over to Ren's bed. Ren looked at his leader, and felt more unease now that he was so close. Talon didn't do anything for several seconds before extending his right hand toward Ren. Ren stared at it before slowly grabbing it with his.

"You're an amazing man Lie Ren…It's an honor to meet you." Talon said, slightly bowing his head to Ren. Ren smiled a bit in response and bowed his head in return.

"Thank you."

"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" Nora exclaimed, having not paid much attention to the ongoing conversation. Talon and Ren looked at each other and smiled a little.

"Nothing." They both stated at the same time. Nora narrowed her eyes not believing either of them. Pyrrha giggled slightly having watched the entire thing. She still couldn't understand how her leader got a semblance that caused such feelings in people but, at least if the past half hour was anything to go by, he didn't seem like a bad person. Now that she thought about it, Yang and Ruby didn't seem bothered by it at all. Though maybe that was because they were family.

"Well, we should probably be getting some shut eye. We do have classes starting tomorrow." The others agreed and set about getting ready for bed. Her and Nora both used the bathroom, which was just big enough for them both, to change into their night wear while Talon and Ren changed in the room. When she came out, she saw them in their choice in pajamas, and noted Talon wearing a glove on his left hand.

"Are you going to be sleeping with that glove on?" She asked, since he wasn't attempting to remove it and seemed fine with it on.

"Uh…yeah. During some training it got messed up pretty bad so it doesn't look all that well. It still functions fine, but it's not something I want people looking at it." Talon said, flexing his left hand to show it worked, then holding it. He looked a bit uncomfortable about it, which didn't surprise her given what he said.

"Oh I'm sorry I-"

"It's fine." He said cutting her off. "Someone was bound to ask sooner or later. I knew I had to mention it eventually." She supposed he had a point, so she dropped it.

The four of them got into their beds and set themselves onto sleep, wondering what the next day would bring. Talon, however, laid there staring at the ceiling. After a while he took his left hand out and stared at it. He clenched it a few times, before putting his hand back down and closing his eyes, willing himself to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Lessons

Talon's consciousness returned as he awoke for the day. Slowly regaining his bearings he opened his eyes. Finding himself in a room he questioned where he was for a brief second before remembering he was at Beacon Academy.

_Beacon…right _he thought to himself. Looking over he found both Pyrrha, his partner, and Nora, who was splayed out amongst her own bed, still sleeping. Ren was not there, but Talon did recall him mentioning how he wakes up early, which was evidenced with his bed being made instead of a mess. Looking at the clock in the room he saw it read 7: 45. A reasonable time in most cases, and a good a time as any for him to get up. That and he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep without needing to get up for classes, since it was their first official day. He got up and decided that a little bit of exercising wouldn't hurt. He did some stretching to loosen up before doing 30 pushups and sit-ups. After doing so he decided to get dressed before suddenly Ren showed up, slowly opening the door. Ren was in some light casual clothing instead of his sleepwear.

"Where were you?" Talon asked quietly, trying to not disturb the girls.

"Training and exercising. I always do some almost every morning." Ren explained before they heard a somewhat faint but still loud whistle noise emanate from across the hallway. Pyrrha awoke, almost jolting up with a loud gasp, while Nora did jolt up with an exclamation of 'Pancakes!' before falling onto the floor with a groan.

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked while wiping her eyes before eliciting a yawn. Nora slowly tried to untangle herself from her sheets with Ren coming to aid her.

"If I had to guess…likely one of my cousins" Talon stated with an almost accusatory tone, before another sharp whistle echoed across the hall again several seconds later.

"Why?" Ren asked.

"Because it seems like something either one of them would do." Talon explained. "Anyway it's probably a good thing since you're both up. Classes start in less than an hour." This caused both Nora and Pyrrha to slowly kick themselves into gear. Once everyone was dressed in their new school uniforms, they decided they would use the small amount of time before going to class to sort out the mess of luggage in the middle of the room. They sorted out what belong to whom and set up a small amount of things and decorations, or at least the important ones. Talon had very little stuff having lived in the wild for some time, but was still glad it was in their room. He was slightly surprised seeing as how he left it when he made his entrance at initiation, but figured Ozpin had it collected for him.

"Alright that's probably enough for now; we got 25 minutes till class. C'mon, let's get going before we end up late." Talon stated. They exited their room and Talon thought it prudent to see if it was indeed his cousins across the hall. He knocked on the door and waited before Yang opened the door.

"Talon? What are you doing here?" The other 3 girls were halting in various states of unpacking and decorating to see the exchange.

"I'm across the hall from you guys, could hear the damn whistle from the room." He said, giving an accusatory glare at his cousins, before directing it at Ruby who ended up looking quite guilty. "Couldn't let me in on it I see."

"Well maybe next time you should be put on our team." Yang slightly smirked.

"Not like I had a choice in the matter….no offence." He said the last part he said toward his teammates who were simply watching the exchange. Pyrrha gave him an exasperated look that seemed to ask how that wasn't offensive. Ren and Nora simply shrugged. "Anyway, you guys might want to cease decorating, classes start in less than half an hour." This caused all of Team RWBY to look at the time and hurry to set things down before getting out the door. Both teams began walking to their first class.

"So…Talon yes?" Weiss began.

"Yea?" He asked, wondering what she wanted.

"You are Ruby's and Yang's cousin. They told us a little about you." Weiss stated.

"Oh really." He replied, giving his cousins a suspicious glare, just wondering what they might have said. Both found the walls opposite of Talon very interesting.

"Yes. Specifically about you're…presence." It seemed the other 2 girls were also cautiously curious on why Talon seemed to give off the feeling he did.

"I'm not surprised. Like I told my team, I'm sorry for the feelings of dread and such that I make you feel…Miss?" Talon drew out.

"Huh? Oh right sorry. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Company." Weiss stated with a pompous air.

"Blake Belladonna." Blake stated, speaking up for the first time. She was, though no one seemed to notice, the furthest from Talon.

"Nice to meet you both. This is my partner Pyrrha Nikos." Talon stated, motioning to Pyrrha who greeted with a wave and a hello. "And Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." Ren simply nodded while Nora gave a somewhat loud greeting.

"A pleasure. But back to topic, they said it was because of your semblance, but didn't tell us what it is."

"It is, and as to why they didn't, it's because they don't know. There are not many that know my semblance." Talon explained.

"But why? And further, you two" Weiss said, pointing at Ruby and Yang "how do you act like you're not affected by it?" She asked.

"Well…" Yang trailed off. "I guess…it's because we knew him before he got his semblance. He's a good guy and always has been. I mean c'mon were family."

"Yea! No matter what he's our cousin and he will always be welcome. Just like Uncle Qrow, we don't care what his semblance is, he is family." Ruby stated proudly. Talon grew a small smile and shook his head.

*Small time skip*

"Monsters! Deeemons! Prowlers of the night! Yes the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I…merely refer to them as prey." Proclaimed the professor named Peter Port. Talon sat there with an almost bored expression as the professor droned on. He didn't want to berate his first teacher, but the man didn't really have a flair for teaching. He seemed to drone on and on, didn't really give the students the feeling of wanting to learn, and the most important flaw, seemed to only talk about stories, that were likely exaggerated, of himself. Eventually Talon noticed that Weiss was seemingly to have some sort of fit, and was glaring at Ruby, who was picking her nose. Talon face palmed at seeing that.

_Really endearing yourself there Ruby _Talon thought. The professor then asked who thought themselves true huntsmen, to which Weiss raised her hand and exclaimed that she did. Professor Port told her to get her gear, and when she returned with it, set her up against a Grimm: A boarbatusk. A Grimm that looked like a warthog, only bigger and stronger. Weiss set about the Grimm, while Ruby yelled encouragement and advice. Talon took note of how Weiss yelled back in frustration and near anger. After a near rough time, Weiss emerged victorious and the Professor ended the class. Talon saw Ruby soon take off after Weiss and decided to follow, knowing that things would likely not go well. Soon he could hear their voices.

"What's wrong with you?" Came Weiss's voice around a corner. "You're supposed to be a leader, and so far all you've been is a nuisance."

"What did I do?" Ruby's voice responded, both confused and accusatory.

"That's just it; you've done nothing to earn your position. Back in the forest you acted like a child. And you've only continued to do so."

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all that talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team." Ruby asked, her voice betraying a little sadness.

"Not a team led by you. I've studied, and trained, and quite frankly I deserve better." Weiss responded coldly. "Ozpin made a mistake." Weiss stated finally, before the sounds of footsteps could be heard before growing fainter. Talon was angry now. He knew Ruby was now nearly crushed, having thought she was going somewhere and had friends, just for the first near friend to destroy those ideas entirely. Suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings, Talon noticed someone was standing next to him, only to discover Professor Ozpin himself standing there. Ozpin was starring off down the hall, seemingly having listened to the conversation as well. Ozpin looked at Talon, noting his anger.

"Why don't you go talk with Miss Schnee, calmly, while I give Miss Rose reason to think I didn't make a mistake." He suggested quietly, since they were still nearby. Talon was slightly shocked, but knew Ozpin was right. He could comfort her, but with what was said, she'd still have doubts. He nodded, and set off.

*Small time skip*

Talon found Weiss standing alone on a balcony with benches scattered about, starring off into the distance. He slowly walked up behind her, before stopping. Weiss noticed a presence and spun around, only to find him standing there. 

"Oh it's you. What do you want?" Weiss asked.

"To talk." Talon stated simply.

"About what?"

"Your attitude." This drew some offense from Weiss, as well as confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"I saw the way you were looking at Ruby in class, and I overheard your conversation earlier, when you tore into her."

"So what? It was the truth. She is not qualified to be leader." Weiss proclaimed.

"Oh, is that right? Then who would be better as leader hm?" Talon asked, trying to keep his anger in check.

"Me." Weiss stated, as if it was needed to be asked.

"You? A girl with a bitchy attitude and a giant pole up her ass?" Talon responded vulgarly, letting some anger out.

"Wha-? How dare you!"

"No, how dare you! Ruby was only trying to help you, to be your friend, and you tore apart what little confidence she gained in the past day." Talon said, looking at Weiss in anger. Though Weiss would never admit it, she was slowly starting to become a tad afraid. The uneasy feeling he generally gave off seemed to be getting stronger.

"She's a child, she shouldn't even be here. I have grown up learning to take over my father's company. I am better suited."

"Really? Then answer me this: Who devised the plan to take out the Nevermore?"

"What does that-?"

"Answer…the question." Weiss hesitated.

"R…Ruby."

"Exactly. Could you have come up with a plan?" Talon challenged.

"Yes!...eventually." Weiss weakly countered.

"Would that have happened before you all ended up dead?" Weiss flinched and seemed to have no reply.

"Look Schnee, I know you don't like her. There are some parts I even agree with you." Weiss looked up in surprise.

"You do?" It seemed strange after how angry he was at her belittling his cousin.

"Yes, but I can see more than your narrow view on it. Yes, Ruby's too young, but she was offered by Ozpin himself to come here early. I would think that would mean something. Yes, she acts like a child, but she's 15…and that's kinda just her nature. Yes, she doesn't know how to be a leader, but she can learn. Also she's not going to learn that when she has been leader for only a single day. Do you know of any leader who suddenly was a great leader after just one day?" Talon asked, already knowing the answer.

"No" Weiss replied weakly, already feeling like she has been chastised.

"Exactly. Meanwhile yes, you COULD be a leader, but you don't exactly give anyone a reason to want to follow you with your stuck up bitchy attitude. You're the near perfect example of a rich girl who throws a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants."

"That's not true….not…entirely." Weiss finished lamely, realizing she may have been acting like that.

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you need to rethink as to why it is you're here. Stop getting upset over not getting something and cherish what you do have and get. I think Ruby could become a pretty good team leader, at least in time. All good teams have great leaders, but those leaders are nothing without those who follow them. Just some advice." Talon finished walking off, leaving Weiss alone to her thoughts and the sky above her.

*Later that night*

Weiss opened the door to her team's room, finding Blake and Yang asleep. Looking over to Ruby's bed, she found her asleep with books and notes laid out across her bed. Weiss stared at her for a moment before slowly reaching over to shake her awake. Ruby slowly came back to the world.

"Huh?...Wha-? Oh! Weiss I'm sorry. I was studying and…" Weiss, not wanting a full in depth story simply put her hand to Ruby's mouth. She noticed a mug lying next to the bed.

"How do you take your coffee?"

"Huh? I…I don't-"

"Answer the question"

"Cream and five sugars!" Ruby whisper yelled. Weiss sighed before grabbing the mug and dropping down before returning shortly with a filled mug.

"Um…thanks Weiss." Ruby said, slightly wondering why she was suddenly being nice…ish.

"Thank your cousin."

"Talon?"

"Yea…he…overheard our conversation earlier." Weiss explained.

"He did? Oh…I hope he wasn't…" Ruby trailed off, knowing Talon can be rough with people.

"No, though maybe almost. He just talked to me…showed me…that maybe I need to be more…open minded. As such…Ruby…I think maybe you could be a good leader…at least one day. And I'll help you. Even leaders need someone to assist them if they can't do it themselves. Kind like a second in command. I'm not going to try and take over leadership. Just…so you know you can depend on me, as I will try and depend on you." Ruby stared in shock, not expecting this. It wasn't a big change, but to someone like Ruby, it was the biggest change in the world.

"Yea…I'll try to be the best leader I can be. Just you wait and see." Ruby vowed. She finally felt like her and Weiss were becoming friends…or at least closer to friends.

"Good. I'll leave you to your studying." Weiss said as she slowly drifted back down before halting and pointing at some of her notes. "That's wrong, so you know" Ruby let out a groan before going back to her work. But now she had a small smile on her face. She really needed to thank Talon. Maybe she would ask for only one plate of cookies now…nah.

Meanwhile Weiss was silently thanking Talon as well. He was a mystery, but she could see now that he did indeed care for his cousins. The anger he showed couldn't really be refuted. And in the end she supposed he was right. It had only been one day, and Ruby did show that she could come up with strategies on the fly that had the potential to work. But she would need a bit of work to be a great leader though. She was still weary of Talon, but now she felt like she could at least be friendly toward him. She still wondered just what his semblance was that caused such feelings, but she thought that maybe it wasn't something she should push. After all, if he didn't seem like such a bad guy, it couldn't be all that bad…right?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Calm Before the Storm

"So, there we were" Began Nora, who was trying to build dramatic tension "in the middle of the night."

"It was day." Interjected Ren, very plainly.

"We were surrounded by Ursai." Nora continued as if Ren hadn't just said something. Yang was listening closely, while Blake seemed like she didn't care at all.

"They were Beowolves." Ren interjected again.

"Dozens of them!" Nora exclaimed, as if to make it more dramatic and is if she had a big audience. Weiss continued filing her nails, not really paying attention. Ruby listened, but didn't seem all that excited about it. Pyrrha listened and watched Nora, if only because it was interesting to watch Nora do…whatever she did. Talon calmly ate his lunch, listening and watching.

"Two of em." Ren stated.

"But they were no match, and in the end Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora smiled triumphantly. Ren sighed.

"She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now…"

"Some people would say there's something to that if you would have the same dream for so long." Talon stated. "Though Pinky, you could use some work on story telling. It would also be more believable if an Ursa's entire body didn't evaporate nearly instantly." Talon stated, blowing apart Nora's story entirely.

"Aww c'mon cuz, let her have her fun. Besides it wasn't bad." Yang said, having enjoyed the little story.

"I never said it was bad, it just wasn't fulfilling. You got surrounded, and then killed them all. That's it. If I hear a story like that, I want to feel like I'm engaged in the story and have an epic fight scene." Talon stated.

"Well, I guess that's true." Yang relented.

"Hey Talon?" Pyrrha hesitantly started.

"Yea?"

"Are you…ok?" Pyrrha asked.

"What? Yeah I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be?" Talon responded, seeming confused as to why she would ask that out of nowhere.

"Well…I'm sure you are, but during class you seemed…not ok." Pyrrha explained. They had just recently had class with Ms. Goodwitch. It was combat class, and each student had been paired off with another student in simulated matches. Each of them had done their best against their opponents. When Talon was paired off, he got paired with Cardin Winchester. Talon took things slow and the both of them got a few hits in before Talon started to really put Cardin on the defensive. It wasn't long before Cardin was beaten, and Talon was just above yellow in his aura. Almost everyone could tell Talon hadn't gone all out, but still put some work into the match. Unfortunately, it seemed Cardin slightly picked up on this as well. Cardin had proceeded to bad mouth and insult Talon, saying things like 'freak' and 'it's no wonder everyone avoids you'. This coming from the fact that everyone avoided Talon when possible. Everyone in the school knew and felt the creepy feeling he gave off and avoided him, some of them as if he were going to murder them if they so much as looked at him wrong. Talons eyes had narrowed and clenched his fists. Cardin noticed this and, because he couldn't keep his mouth shut, practically goaded him and asked if he was going to attack him or something. Talon did not respond and walked away, with Cardin continuing to yell insults before Ms. Goodwitch, who was talking to the students watching the fights, noticed and reprimanded him. As Talon was walking away, Pyrrha had noticed a small bit of sadness and…something else in Talons eyes.

"Oh…that. Yeah I'm fine. It's nothing I'm not used to." Talon responded, focusing back on his meal.

"That you're used to?" Blake asked, looking up from her book. She too saw the way he looked, most of them had. It was a look she could almost relate to.

"You've all felt it, and you all have noticed how people react to me." Talon stated. Every one of them looked…uncomfortable in some way. It was no secret. People sitting a little further from him in class, avoiding him in halls even if that meant hugging the wall furthest from him, even now at lunch no one sat at the table they all sat at and instead sat at other tables occasionally shooting glances at him. "This is my life, and it's how it's been for a long time. You either get used to it, or live in sadness for the rest of your days." That statement drew everyone short, having not heard such a sad thing before.

"But that's not right!" Pyrrha exclaimed. She couldn't believe her leader had such a mindset.

"Never said it was. I simply don't have much choice in the matter." Before anything else could be said, a cry of pain came from nearby. Naturally all of them looked over to what it could have been and saw none other than Cardin Winchester, as well as the rest of his team, harassing and harming a rabbit faunus student. She cried out in pain as Cardin was harshly grabbing one of her ears and pulling on it.

"Please stop…" The faunus student asked, nearly whimpering at the pain.

"I told you it was real!" Cardin said to his teammates while laughing, acting like he hadn't heard her say this. His teammates laughed calling her a freak.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one." Blake stated, looking at the scene, seemingly in anger.

"It must be hard to…huh?" Yang said, as she looked back toward the group before stopping herself. "Where's Talon?" At this the entire group looked to where Team PLTN leader had been sitting, only to find him gone. Hearing more laughter, they turned back to Cardin harassing the faunus student, when suddenly his wrist was grabbed by none other than Talon. Cardin seemed to jolt a little, having not been paying attention to anything else. Looking up at Talon, he seemed to pale a little. Talon looked a bit angry, which only made him look more like some sort of murderer.

"I suggest you let her go." Talon said, keeping his anger in check. Now, Cardin was not very foolish, but being stubborn, a bit prideful and a bully seemed to keep him from becoming scared and complying.

"Or what?" Cardin retorted, trying not to show any nervousness. Talon didn't respond and simply squeezed Cardin's wrist without trying to break it.

"OW! Ow ow ow ok!" Cardin yelled in pain as he let go of the faunus girl who backed up a bit in fear. She was staring at Talon and even seemed to be shivering a little.

"You trying to break my wrist?" Cardin yelled as his wrist was released and got up and into Talons face. He was now unaffected by Talon's aura from the surge of anger in his system.

"If I wanted to do that, I would have done so." Talon responded, not seeming to care that Cardin was angry now.

"You basta-!" Cardin started to yell, starting to pull his fist back to punch Talon before Ms. Goodwitch suddenly arrived.

"What is going on here?" she demanded, having heard yelling coming from the cafeteria. Cardin seemed to become a little fearful before trying to say something.

"Nothing Ms. Goodwitch. Me and Cardin here were just having a little…'friendly' chat." Talon stated out of nowhere. Everyone who had witnessed the situation was surprised at this.

"Is that so? Mr. Winchester, is this true?" Ms. Goodwitch asked, looking toward Cardin. Cardin, who was a little surprised himself, looked at her for a second before looking at Talon. Talon's eyes were narrowed, and soon Cardin understood. They both would get in trouble if either of them spoke about what happened, Talon would make sure of it. Cardin narrowed his eyes in anger at Talon before looking at Ms. Goodwitch.

"Yea…just a…'friendly' chat." Cardin said, looking at Talon with a scowl. Ms. Goodwitch looked like she obviously didn't buy it, but let it go. She told everyone to return to their classes. As everyone slowly shuffled out, Cardin harshly bumped his shoulder into Talon as he walked away. Talon didn't react to this, and having noticed the faunus girl still there looked over at her. She flinched when he did, becoming fearful. Talons anger instantly disappeared and lowered his eyes. He supposed it was natural, since she was a rabbit faunus.

"Sorry…" was all Talon said before walking away. The others having watched all that, couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"I guess Talon wasn't kidding." Ruby said sadly.

"He came to help and all she could do was look at him in fear." Ren observed.

"Well, no offense to Talon, but it didn't help with the look he had on his face." Yang said, with almost no tact.

"That's just so sad!" Nora exclaimed.

"True, but I guess at least he strives to do what's right, even if people look at him like that." Blake said, looking over to where Talon had left. She was very weary of him, but she was starting to think that maybe he wasn't so bad.

"C'mon guys, we need to get going too." Weiss, ever miss punctual, said. Pyrrha simply lagged behind a little, looking sad for her leader.

*Time skip*

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing faunus population in Menagerie." Stated the speedy professor, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. He zipped back and forth all over the place as he continued his speech. Some of the students simply watched in amazement or were too stupefied to write any notes. Talon had been like that for the first 20 minutes before realizing he should try and pay attention and take notes. Doctor Oobleck continued to speak about the faunus as he zipped to and fro without seemingly even moving his legs.

"Who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" asked Doctor Oobleck. Unbeknownst to Talon, who was paying attention, Cardin was behind him and flicked a piece of paper at his head. The paper hit him in head and caught him by surprise.

"D'oh! What the..?" He stated in surprise, a little louder than he would've liked.

"Mr. Branwen!" Dr. Oobleck exclaimed, getting right up to Talon. "It seems you would like to say something finally! Do you have the answer?" Talon was surprised by the sudden intrusion by the professor, and while collecting himself saw what had hit his head. He looked back at Cardin in anger while Cardin made himself look as though he hadn't just done that, which Talon didn't buy. Talon looked back at Dr. Oobleck to answer.

"Well, I would say it would be due to the advantages faunus have that humans don't, like their ability to see clearly at night." Talon responded.

"Excellent! That is precisely it!" Dr. Oobleck exclaimed in seeming joy. Cardin scoffed at having not gotten Talon in trouble. Dr. Oobleck noticed the noise. "Mr. Winchester, perhaps you have something you would like to add?" Cardin looked slightly annoyed.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin arrogantly stated.

"You do realize you're an animal too right?" Talon asked wittily.

"What? I am not an-" Cardin began.

"You are a biologically living thing that's not a plant or insect, therefore you are an animal. Unless you have a well-hidden secret of being a robot?" Talon stated logically, leaving the last part open for Cardin to say something on. Cardin looked at Talon in anger, clenching his fists. Cardin slowly got up as if to try and head down to beat Talon up.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Dr. Oobleck said. Cardin slowly returned to his seat. "You can see me after class for additional readings." Cardin was not happy about this. After class got out, Talon and his team proceeded to walk back to their room.

"You know, you really shouldn't try and goad him like that." Pyrrha, ever the voice or reason, said to Talon as they left the room.

"Yea, probably not but I can't help it. He's a jerk and won't learn unless it's the hard way." Talon replied.

"And goading him is the 'hard way'?" Ren asked confused.

"Well…maybe not. But it's the only thing I can do at the moment." Talon relented slightly.

"Oh oh I know! If it's the hard way, then lets break his legs!" Nora exclaimed, seeming to enjoy the very idea of doing so. The other 3 just looked at her for a moment.

"Um…how about we save that as a very last resort ok Nora?" Talon asked slowly. While the idea wasn't…acceptable, he did find it pleasing in his mind a little. Nora groaned in disappointment at not being able to break some legs. Ren simply patted her head a little.

"Still, you know it's only going to add more fuel to the fire. He's just going to try harder now that you've gone up against him like that." Pyrrha continued.

"I know, and I'll try not to go too far. It'll be fine Pyrrha, I promise." Talon said trying to reassure her. Pyrrha however did not look too reassured, but let it go. She wanted her team to do well, and a war between her team and someone else's was not going to help. Fortunately right now it wasn't anything of significance, but she worried it might become that way.

"If you're sure, just…be careful please? Oh an Talon?" Talon stopped and looked at her.

"What's up?"

"Well…you know you can count on us right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"We are your teammates, we are here for you. We saw how that girl froze even after you helped her, and we know that people don't like being around you. But no matter what, we will be there for you, ok?" Pyrrha proclaimed, trying with all her might to make sure he understood this. Talon was surprised by this and looked over at Ren and Nora. Nora lifted her fists into the air in a way to show him her strength was at his disposal. Ren simply smiled and nodded. They may not have known him long, but he had given them no reason to believe he didn't deserve their support. Talon lowered his head and smiled a little. He looked up at them, but the look he gave almost seemed sad to them.

"I truly hope you will be." Was all Talon said before he started walking away from them. None of them could understand just what he meant by that or why he looked that way, before slowly following after him.

*elsewhere*

"Smartass freak. Thinks he's so smart and clever." Cardin muttered in anger. He wasn't going to let this slide. Not only had the wierdo stood up to him and stopped him from having some fun with that faunus girl freak, but he made him look like an idiot in front of class and got him in trouble with that weird speedy professor. This would not stand. His pride had been wounded, he had more school work to do now, and he felt a little insulted that he implied he was an animal like the faunus.

"Yeah, really. Like, who does he think he is?" One of his teammates, Dove, said. His teammates hadn't been there, but he explained what happened well enough.

"So, what do you want to do about it?" Another of his teammates asked. Cardin, who had been sitting there getting angrier, calm a little.

"I don't know…at least yet. But make no mistake, I will show that freaky asshat whose boss. He will regret making a fool out of me." Cardin said, starting to seethe and plan. He would make sure Talon got his just desserts.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Curse

"Ooh I can't wait for the trip tomorrow!" Nora stated as she bounced excitedly on her bed. The next day they were going on a small trip for school to the Forever Fall forest.

"It's not a vacation Nora" Ren reminded her.

"I know that! Doesn't mean we can't enjoy it. Besides I've never been to Forever Fall before." Nora justified.

"Neither have I. I've heard it's a very interesting place though." Pyrrha said as she watched Nora continue to bounce on her bed, slightly worrying it might break at some point.

"I have once. It's definitely a place that is beautiful in its own way, but its more something that you have to see to understand." Talon stated. He had gone through it once during his time living in the wilderness. He journeyed to and fro during his time in the wilds, and came across it on one of the trips back home. He actually stayed there for about a week before continuing on. It was wonderful…outside the Grimm.

"Well that just makes tomorrow even better!" Nora exclaimed finally jumping off the bed. Talon liked her enthusiasm; it helped keep things lively and even positive at times. However, Talon couldn't help but feel something was wrong. He felt something was off or…something. Something about tomorrow didn't leave him with a good feeling.

"Talon?" Talon blinked his eyes finding Ren looking at him strangely. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh no, I'm just tired so I think I'll turn in." Talon said as he stretched and got ready for bed. Laying down he hoped that whatever he was feeling wouldn't be bad or that he was just being paranoid for no reason. As he drifted asleep, he couldn't help but have doubts though.

*Time skip*

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sightsee." Stated Ms. Goodwitch as she led the student with her through the forest. "Professor Peach has tasked you all with collecting samples from deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so. Each of you are to gather one jars worth of red sap. However this forest is teeming with Grimm, so make sure to stay together with your team." Glynda explained as she set them off to complete their task. Talon slightly wondered why they had to do this. Sure it was a nice way to offset the constant of classes, but this more seemed a thing for the teachers themselves, or even a team of assistants or something to do. All they had to do was go to a tree, get enough sap to fill a jar, and they were done. Not exactly a hard thing to do, but still it was a nice excuse to make so they could get out of school for a little bit. As he and his team slowly set off, he noticed team CRDL heading off with Cardin giving him a scowl. He rolled his eyes and followed his teammates; he didn't care what they thought of him.

Slowly but surely each of them made their way to a tree to begin collecting sap. Talon found one that was decently big and proceeded to collect its sap. He began to hear slurping noises and looked over to find, not surprisingly, Nora eating the sap she was supposed to be collecting. Ren simply shaking his head as Nora sheepishly scratched her head. It didn't make her look guilty at all as she greedily licked her lips of the sap that got onto her face. Talon almost laughed at that.

"She certainly is unique." Talon turned his head toward Pyrrha who was also watching.

"Oh yeah. But in some ways I like her like that. She adds character to the team." There was more to it than that but it explained enough.

"Oh definitely. I kind of like her as she is as well." Pyrrha smiled as she watched Ren reprimand Nora and proceed to get sap for the both of them, with Nora still trying to eat some of the sap. "Although, she could use some restraint." Talon and her enjoyed a small laugh at that. They continued to enjoy a moment here or there while collecting some sap. Suddenly out of nowhere, Talon heard something.

"Hey Freak!" Talon suddenly became alert as he looked over before suddenly something hit him hard, breaking and something suddenly covering him as his eyes shut. By the sound of breaking glass, Talon deduced that he had been hit with likely a jar of sap as the substance that was now covering him felt sticky. Talon also heard some laughter as he heard Pyrrha and his team call his name and rush over to try and help him. Deducing what happened, it would seem team CRDL had, as a way of getting back at him, thrown one of their jars at him. He would have to do something about that, but first he needed to get this sap, at the very least, off his face and eyes. He desperately tried to wipe it away, which was only proving somewhat effective. He could hear Pyrrha trying her best to help; though what she was using he had no idea. He also could hear Nora exclaiming of how she would 'break their legs! And their arms for good measure!' in a sort of maniac like way, with Ren trying to restrain her. How he was doing that would forever elude Talon but he had more important things to worry about. Unfortunately, his worries would only increase, as a roar soon echoed close by. That roar could only be one thing, and hastened his efforts to get the remaining sap off his face. After a few more hastened moments Talon finally tried opening his eyes, which ended up stinging a bit, but he was able to keep them open. Just in time it seemed as an Ursa, a bear Grimm, charging toward them. They all dodged out of the way and took combat stances, pulling out their weapons. Talon knew in the right circumstances that they could take down this Grimm, but with him having vision issues it was questionable how well he could help. They each waited for the Grimm to make its next move after it halted its charge and surveyed them. The Grimm took stock of each of them, but suddenly halted at Talon. It starred at him and sniffed.

'Oh no' Talon thought. There was only one reason it would be sniffing in his direction: The sap. It was attracted to the sap, which meant…he was now the prime target. The Grimm roared and charged, with Talon dodging and, after a moments consideration, ran trying to get the Grimm away from his team.

"Talon!" Pyrrha called after him.

"Go! Get team RWBY or Ms. Goodwitch!" he ordered, continuing to run with the Grimm hot on his trail. He didn't know where he was going; only that he needed to keep moving. He transform his scythe into its rifle mode, the small bits of electricity sparking down the barrel, and half turned as he ran to shoot at the Grimm. His shots either missed or hit the bone like armor, with only a couple hitting anything worthwhile. It didn't help some sap would occasionally slide down into his eyes causing him to take a moment to wipe it away. Talon kept running this way and that, hoping to lose the Grimm but to no avail. Finally he came upon a clearing and halted in surprise, as he found team CRDL talking and laughing before noticing him and smirking. Those smirks didn't last long as a roar emanated behind him and trees were brought down. He turned and backed away as the Ursa burst through the tree line.

"What the-!? You brought a Grimm toward us!?" Cardin exclaimed in near accusation.

"I wasn't trying to lead it toward you! I was trying to shake it off but it won't stop chasing me because of the sap you threw on me!" Talon responded.

"Why would it care about the sap?" Cardin said, somewhat shakily as he and his team slowly backed away from the Grimm, with Talon doing the same.

"How the heck should I know?" Talon was racking his brain for what to do. Not only could he not shake off the Grimm, but now he had to worry about team CRDL too. The Grimm roared and, like their team name, Cardin's teammates chose the flight response instead of sticking around to help fight. Cardin looked on in near bewilderment at his team before fearfully looking back toward the Grimm. While Cardin wasn't exactly a coward, his fear still made him unable to help. Talon knew this meant he had to keep the Ursa's attention, so he turned his weapon back to a scythe to do battle with the Grimm. The Grimm charged trying to body slam him, but Talon dodged, slicing at the Grimm's side. Next the Ursa tried swatting at Talon, and Talon dodged the first one before blocking the second. Talon struggled to hold the Grimm's paw at bay, seeing as how the Grimm was literally a bear, so Talon swiped it to the side of him before backing off. Talon decided to go on the offensive, rushing forward and slashing his scythe against the Grimm, hitting bone and flesh, with the Grimm blocking and attempting to bite him as he attacked. Cardin meanwhile just starred at the spectacle in front of him. He didn't understand why Talon was fighting the Grimm. There was little chance that Talon would be able to beat the Grimm, outside of a lucky hit. So why was he fighting it? It would be better to run and get Ms. Goodwitch who was still around somewhere, or possibly even his team. Now that he thought about it where was his team? They were nearby when he threw that jar at him, so why weren't they here? Did they abandon him? Given how he was a freak of nature in his eyes, Cardin wouldn't blame them. But they hadn't done that yet, so he slightly doubted it. Could he have made them go get Goodwitch? That seemed more plausible, and that way there would be fewer problems in trying to deal with the Ursa. It couldn't be because he was here. Wait, hadn't he said that he tried to shake it off? Well that would be the likely reason. Better to fight than just get yourself killed. Which was the thing he wasn't doing. Here this 'freak' was fighting instead of letting himself be killed, and here Cardin was just watching in fear. Well, that was ending right now. Cardin got up and got his mace out and charged at the Grimm. The Grimm wasn't noticing him, and took a mace right to the side of the head for it. Talon blinked in surprise at this, as Cardin put some distance between him and the Grimm. The Ursa shook its head from the blow as Talon and Cardin looked at each other. Cardin looked at him with hatred, gripping his mace. Talon looked back the same, before both of them looked back at the Ursa. They didn't like each other, but there was a bigger problem right now.

The Grimm looked at them both and roared, having been angered further by the blow. The Grimm charged at them both, causing them to dodge to the sides. Cardin took the chance to slam his mace in the Grimm's face a couple of times, angering it further. Just as the Grimm tried to retaliate, a couple of shots hit its backside and leg. It turned finding Talon with his rifle mode shooting at it. Being attacked from both sides only angered the Grimm further; it decided to go for the closer target first and turned swiping its claws to and fro. Cardin dodged to the best of his abilities but his size only got him smacked for his efforts. Talon took the opportunity to fire more rounds into the Ursa. Some only hit the bone armor but it got the Ursa to lay off Cardin for a second. Cardin slowly got up and tried again to go at the Grimm. Unfortunately he made the foolish mistake of announcing this with a battle cry. The Grimm heard it and turned just before Cardin could land a hit and knocked him away again. Cardin was now injured and not doing well. The Grimm saw a downed prey and advanced for the kill. Talon, slowly running out of ammo, saw this and turned his weapon back to a scythe to charge the Grimm to keep it off Cardin. Unfortunately, the Grimm was smart enough to realize he might try this after the first couple of times, and just like Cardin, smacked him away as he got close. Talon tumbled across the ground in pain before stopping. He slowly got himself off the ground before realizing his didn't have his weapon in his hand. Looking around, he saw his scythe lying on the ground a ways off to the side, and in the opposite direction from the Grimm. Remembering Cardin was in trouble, he looked back to find the Ursa nearly upon him. Cardin, who was half conscious, raised his mace in defense before the Ursa smacked him and by extension the mace, causing the mace to be flung away and Cardin to fall unconscious. Talon knew he had to act fast, but looking at his weapon he knew if he went for it, Cardin would likely be dead by the time he got it and charged the Grimm. He was out of options.

He knew what he had to do, but he really…_really _wished he had another option. Standing up he steeled his resolve. He knew he had to, there was no other way. He yelled at the Grimm, getting its attention.

"Hey! I'm your opponent you freaky son of a bitch!" The Ursa turned toward him, and taking that split moment, charged at the Grimm without his weapon. Unbeknownst to Talon, it was at that moment that his team and team RWBY suddenly entered the clearing, with Ms. Goodwitch in tow. They had heard his yelling, and were very nearby and followed his voice to find him from almost directly behind him, just as he started running at the Grimm.

"Wha-? Talon stop!" Ruby yelled. Unfortunately, her yell fell on deaf ears as Talon was screaming as he charged at the Grimm. Doing so caused the Grimm to perceive him as a threat and therefore focus on him. Closer and closer Talon got no signs of slowing down. As he got very near the Grimm, he went and grabbed his left hand, or more precisely the glove on his left hand. At this point, a strange feeling and energy swept through the area, making the feelings of dread in the others stronger, not that they noticed. Talon charged and came within a few feet of the Ursa, with the Ursa getting up on its hind legs to attack.

'Begone' He thought, as just as he reached the Grimm, took off the glove on his left hand and thrust his left arm out at the Grimm. Suddenly, everyone felt a chill run down their spine, as a black explosive blast radiated out from the point of contact, and through the Grimm's back, black wisps of energy violently radiated outward. After a moment it stopped, and Talon and the Grimm stood motionless. Slowly, the Ursa moved, falling backwards and landing in a heap, dead. It slowly evaporated, leaving nothing behind. Ruby and Yang felt immense relief, as did the others. They ran out toward Talon, thinking things were alright.

"Talon! You're ok!" Ruby yelled. Talon flinched considerably with his hand still out in front of him, not knowing they were there since they were behind him. Unfortunately they noticed this.

"Talon, are you…ok?" Pyrrha asked, worried that her partner was actually injured. For a moment he didn't move. Talons shoulders sagged as he sighed, before he slowly let his arm fall. Once it did, every one of them gasped in shock and horror.

Talons arm was normal, but it was his hand that was not. Down to about the wrist, Talons arm was completely normal. But from the wrist down, there was something seriously wrong. There was no flesh. There was no muscle. There wasn't even any blood. His entire hand was nothing but bone. At the wrist, his flesh simply curved in, as if it had been amputated. The bones of his wrist and hand simply protruded outward from the flesh stump of his arm and somehow were remaining attached and not falling apart. They could even see it moving as he clenched his fist, the bones clacking against each other, letting them know it was real. Talon turned around, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.

"T-Talon…Wha…How…I-I don't..." Yang tried to formulate words but couldn't. Talon didn't show any pain, and she couldn't begin to fathom what was happening or why. What happened to her cousin? All of them just stared in confusion and horror. Talon sighed again.

"You wondered for the longest time…" Talon started.

Afterwards, they would look back and begin to understand.

"…just what my semblance was, for it to give me this aura I have."

They had heard about a lot of different semblances. There were some that were extremely useful in life, some that were useful only in combat, and some that seemingly had no use at all. Some of them that had looked into semblances had even heard theories about how semblances might be tied into your personality, how it might reflect your inner character. But they would soon look back and wonder, if that is true, just how had Talon got his?

"Well now you get to know…"

Nothing about it would make sense to them, especially given Talon's character. Yang and Ruby would know and would defend Talon about it. Nothing about Talon would suggest this, and they knew he was a good person. But that would still just leave questions. Questions that might just haunt them to their dying days.

"…the reason why my aura gives feelings of dread, the reason why I hide my hand, the reason why I lived in the wilderness is…"

Because none of them could understand, in any way, how someone could have a semblance like his.

"because my semblance…is death."

**(A/N: I tried my best at the fight scene since I don't feel very confident at those scenes, so I hope it was satisfactory.**

**Also, have a Happy Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate.)**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Coming to Terms

Not a single word. None of them said a single word as they rode the bullhead back to Beacon. Every one simply sat there starring off into nothing as if in a trance. Occasionally one of them would blink or look off somewhere…or more specifically at someone, but they wouldn't say anything and return to a trance like state. Soon enough though, the bullhead landed and slowly each of them got off as Ms. Goodwitch escorted Cardin, who was slowly coming back to consciousness, along with the rest of his team to the nurse's office. This left them simply standing there to find their own way back. But, neither Team RWBY nor Team PLTN moved a muscle. What were they supposed to do? How were they supposed to act now? Ever since Talon uttered the words of what his semblance was, none of them had said a word. What were they supposed to say in response? Slowly, in almost perfect unison, each of them looked at Talon at the end of the line they had made. Just as did, he suddenly raised up a finger, as if he expected them to finally say something. None of them moved, waiting for what he was about to do or say.

"I…" He began. "…am getting a shower." A few of them snorted, while the rest of them looked in utter disbelief before realizing why he said that. He was still covered in the sap from the jar that hit him. It had dried and now was stuck on him, making him sticky and, at least for some of them, he was starting to smell a bit. Slowly Talon left heading back to Team PLTN's dorm to get a shower. The rest of them weren't sure exactly what to do, but knowing they couldn't just leave things like this eventually headed back as well. Each of them kept trying to come to terms with the info of Talon's semblance. Just how did he have a semblance like this? What happened to make his semblance death? As they reach their dorm rooms, they all stood outside the doors. The three members of Team PLTN stood starring at the door to their room, some small trepidation to enter. Ruby and Yang also were staring at the door, their thoughts resting on their cousin. Blake and Weiss were not as sure about things, for different reasons, but Talon hadn't given them much reason to be distrustful towards him. Slowly, one by one, each of them slowly entered Team PLTN's dorm room, the sound of the shower going off in the bathroom. Each of them found a place to sit, waiting for Talon to emerge. After about 20 minutes the shower turned off, and each of them turned toward the door to the bathroom. Eventually Talon emerged, drying his hair with a towel which prevented him from seeing them at first. When he did, he stopped and looked at them, before sighing and continuing to his bed and sitting down.

"If you're going to come in here you might as well say something." He said simply.

"What are we supposed to say?" Pyrrha asked, her voice sounding as if she was asking for what she heard to not be true.

"How about like 'Why did you never tell us'?" Yang nearly blurted out. Her cousin, one of the people she cared most about, was living with a semblance like that!? Why did he never tell her or Ruby?

"And what would telling you have accomplished?" Talon responded.

"We could've helped you. We could've been there for you, instead of you never being around!" Yang declared.

"Then tell me Yang, what could you have done to help me?"

"I don't know but-"

"Exactly" Talon cut her off. "You don't know. I understand that you are not happy about it Yang, but telling you would've done nothing. You couldn't have done anything, just as dad and Ozpin couldn't do anything."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked

"Ozpin knew from the very day I gained my semblance what it is." This surprised all of them. In retrospect it made sense. It was Ozpin, of course he would know, especially before allowing him into his school. "Ozpin looked into different possible ideas to help me. Living along in the wilderness and honing my abilities was the only real viable option I had." Talon explained.

"But how is your semblance death? How did you unlock such a semblance?" Weiss asked, nearly being at her wits end. She somewhat prided on herself being smart in topics such as what they were learning, but this just threw so many things for a loop.

"It was because of us…wasn't it?" Everyone could hear the soft voice of Ruby and turned their heads in confusion and surprise. "It was that day…so long ago." She said in a questioning way that said she already knew the answer.

"…Yeah." Talon replied.

"Wait what? What day? What are you talking about?" Blake asked confused. Yang slowly lowered her head.

"It's my fault."

"It's not your fault Yang."

"Yes it is! I was the reason we were there." Yang protested.

"Well I never blamed you for it." Talon responded.

"How can you say that?"

"Because it is the truth." Yang starred at Talon. "You are not to blame for this" Talon raised his gloved left hand. Everyone starred at it, knowing what was under it.

"Ok, I've heard enough of this back and forth. Can someone explain why we have death himself as a teammate?" Nora asked. This was especially serious as everyone noticed she wasn't acting in her happy go lucky attitude. Talon rolled his eyes.

"I'm not actually death Nora. I'm not about to come and reap peoples souls." He proclaimed.

"You promise?" Nora narrowed her eyes at Talon.

"Yes." Nora sighed and relaxed as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Oh thank god." Ren simply shook his head. Talon looked at the ground.

"It happened years ago, when me, Yang and Ruby were still kids."

*Flashback*

An image of wilderness pops up. Grassland with some trees scattered about. Fading in is an image of three kids. The first is a young girl with a pony tail. She is shown to be talking about something while pulling a small cart with another younger girl in it. She seems to have something in the cart with her. Walking by the cart is the third kid, a boy, seemingly responding to the first girl.

"_We were out in seemingly the middle of nowhere_." Yang explained. "_I…I wanted to find something. But our dad, Talon's uncle, wasn't going to let me so I…decided to without his knowledge._" Yang explained, sounding guilty about it. "_But I knew that going off on my own wasn't a smart idea, so I…took Ruby and Talon along with me_."

"_I honestly don't remember most of it that well_." Ruby jumped in. "_But I do remember that it seemed important to Yang, so I went along with her. I also got some cookies which was nice_." Almost everyone immediately knew that about 75-80% of why Ruby went was because she got cookies.

"_I wasn't so sure about this venture of Yang's, nor did I think she needed to find what she was looking for that badly. But I knew she would go regardless if I did or not, so I went. Also to help keep an eye on Ruby_." Talon further added on.

"_We searched for a good while, finding nothing of note. We were nearing the point where we knew we should turn back. Unfortunately it was too late_." Yang said. The scene of the flashback shifts to show the backs of the three kids now starring in shock and fear at a tall monstrous form standing before them with glowing red eyes. "_We went too far, and found ourselves at the mercy of a beowolf_."

"_I hurried next to Yang, in an effort to help shield Ruby, but to potentially shield Yang if I could. If I could at least make sure my Tai didn't need to mourn his 'baby girls' I would_." Both Yang and Ruby could be heard groaning.

"_It was such a short amount of time, but it felt like an eternity. Us staring at the beowolf while it starred at us, savoring the easy kill that stumble across it. I knew I had to protect Ruby, but beyond that I was so scared. I couldn't do anything else_." Yang stated, sounding frustrated with herself.

"_Finally, the beowolf closed it, swinging its claws at us. I pushed Yang back, hoping to spare them while thrusting my left arm out. I remember thinking, wishing somehow some way for the beowolf to die. For something to kill it and save both of them, since I knew after I was killed they would be next. Suddenly, a near instantaneous pain shot through my arm and to my hand_." The scene shifts again, showing the beowolf being blown back by some sort of black blast, which is emanating from the boy's hand which is covered in the same black energy. The two girls are behind the boy covering their faces. "_An energy I…couldn't and still can't describe surged through my arm to my hand, causing a blast of energy to release. When I got my senses back, I was on my knees and the beowolf was on the ground dissipating_."

"_Yang and I didn't even see it happening. We were so afraid of watching the beowolf killing Talon that we both covered our eyes, not wanting to see another family member die_." Ruby added.

"_We eventually noticed there wasn't much noise happening to we looked, finding Talon on his knees. We were about to go help him when another beowolf showed up. This one wasted no time and charged at us. We were about to scream when we were suddenly saved yet again_." Yang continued. The scene shifts one last time, showing someone else standing before the boy. This was an adult, facing away from the boy as he cleaved through the beowolf with a scythe. "_It was our uncle Qrow, Talon's dad. He found us and saved us. Afterwards he was about to berate us before seeing Talon. His face grew horrified, immediately picking him up and taking us all home before taking Talon to the hospital_."

*Flashback ends*

"My dad saw my hand, which had lost all its skin, muscles, and so on. I put my normal hand out and held my…new hand close. He got the message from that. He wrapped it up a little to stop it from touching anything. After arriving at the hospital, doctors and other sorts of people, including Ozpin all tried to figure out what to do about my semblance. Eventually it was decided that I should keep away from others till I could get it under control." Talon concluded.

"Yeah, me and Ruby asked and asked when we could see you, worrying what happened. Eventually they told us that you had unlocked your semblance and it was…problematic. Due to this you wouldn't be around much but would still visit from time to time." Yang said, Ruby nodding along.

"So that's what happened? You unlocked your semblance because of a…oddly phrased wish?" Blake questioned.

"Something like that." Talon responded.

"You said that you were honing your abilities. What did you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

Talon sighed. "As with all semblances, I couldn't…really control it at first. From what I expressed and my dad making sure everyone was careful, no one died after I unlocked my semblance. Some people felt themselves drained and, after some small situational tests, some plants and small animals died. After discovering what my semblance was like, it was decided it was best for me to have minimal contact until I could get control of it. Eventually I did. It can still be dangerous, especially to myself but…" Talon slowly took off his glove, showing the bone hand to them all. "…right now it's just a hand…made of bone."

"So we could touch it… and it wouldn't kill us?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"Sure…if you want to try." Talon responded. Each of them were very skeptical. Eventually Ruby got up and slowly walked up to Talon. She needed to know. Slowly, she raised her finger and reached over and…poked his skeletal finger. She didn't move for several seconds before breathing a sigh of relief, as did everyone else. She grabbed the finger, feeling it.

"It…It really is bone." She said in near astonishment. Ren also got up and slowly touched the boney appendages. He found it fascinating.

"So we won't have to worry about things…dying suddenly then." Pyrrha said with relief and a strange feeling about saying something like that.

"Probably not." This got everyone slightly concerned again. "Do remember this is a semblance. Nearly all semblances are dangerous by default. While I do mostly have control, I can still lose that control. If I get really stressed or let my emotions get the better of me things can still happen, though that rarely does." Talon explained. This caused everyone to worry about the possibility. Sure, he said it usually doesn't, but it did mean they would have to worry about the chances of it actually happening.

"Wait…you said if your emotions get the better of you…like when you're angry?" Weiss asked. Talon nodded to this. "I…think I felt that." She remember how he got upset with her earlier in the year, how the fear that people felt around him got worse. Talon sighed.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He knew that happened. It was the one thing he couldn't control about this semblance.

"Wait a minute!" Nora suddenly yelled, startling them all. "You said when your emotions get the better of you, like anger and such. Don't we have someone who can mask emotions?" She said with a sly grin, looking at Ren. Everyone's eyes widened as they looked at Ren and then Talon. Talon sat there with wide eyes, the slowly looked at Ren and then looked down in thought.

"Would…that really work though?" He…had never thought of such a possibility. He didn't think there was any way it would work.

"Well it wouldn't hurt to try would it? In that situation, what else could we do?" Pyrrha asked. Sure, she didn't want that situation to ever occur. But it was better than letting Talon's semblance go haywire. Talon looked at Ren.

"It's your semblance…what do you think?" Ren starred for a moment. Sure his semblance was handy to keep the Grimm away from himself and select others. But this? He never really saw his semblance as something that could have important uses. And this? Using his semblance from keeping a death semblance from going out of control? Not something anyone would envision from occurring. But…he wouldn't leave people to die if he could help it. He just hoped that either the situation never occurred, or he could muster the courage to charge into hell…almost literally. He looked at Talon and nodded.

"If it comes to it…I'll try my best." Talon starred at him for a moment in surprise. He chortled and smirked a little.

"Well, it's your funeral ninja boy."

"Just another part of the job I guess." Ren responded. Slowly, all of them started to ease up after that. Eventually, Team RWBY trickled back toward their dorm, with Ruby and Yang giving a hug to Talon showing that he was still family. After that, they all headed to bed after a hectic day. Talon however didn't fall asleep, just simply laid in bed starring at the ceiling. He looked over at his teammates who were all asleep. He didn't know how he ended up with people who all could look past the fact his semblance was one of the worst kinds imaginable. But somehow, he did. He looked at his left hand, which was gloved again.

"They aren't ready yet." He said quietly. "But maybe someday…I'll tell them the truth." He finished quietly, before settling in for sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Forming Bonds

It had been a few days since Talon had revealed his semblance to his teammates and Team RWBY. Since then, not much had happened. Classes continued regardless of the horrible bombshell that was revealed, so they had to keep up with their studies. Whether this was a slight blessing in disguise or not, none of them knew. Trying to come to terms with this kind of information wasn't going to happen overnight and as a result all of them needed some time to process how exactly they should handle it. But above all, they needed time to adjust to it in regards to their relation to Talon himself. He was their friend, or cousin for Ruby and Yang, and they learn he has a semblance like that? It was…a little hard to swallow. None of them were of the mind that he suddenly wasn't their friend or something, but how were they supposed to treat him now? Were they supposed to be cautious around him? Were they supposed to be gentle around him? Were they supposed to act as if they hadn't heard anything that night? It was a problem for all of them. Talon knew it would take time, so he let them work it out for themselves while still carrying on with normal activities they had.

Currently Talon was browsing around the Beacon library looking for something to read. Without much else to do, he figured finding a book to read would be a good way to pass the time. He was browsing around when he noticed a table nearby with a book laying on it and no one around. He looked around and saw no one, so he figured someone simply left it there without putting it back. He decided to check it out and possibly put it back. Picking it up, he read the title.

"Huh? Ninjas….of...love?" He asked confused. He hadn't heard a title like that before. He opened the book to a random page and took a quick read…before several seconds later closing the book promptly. "…well then." He remarked having seen the book was one of those books.

"Talon?" Talon quickly spun around to find Ren walking over. "Something the matter?"

"Well…I think I found a book that belongs to someone else. A very…personal book." Ren raised an eyebrow in confusion. Talon raised the book to show the title to Ren. Ren's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh…I see."

"I'm guessing by that reaction you know this book." Ren nodded

"Yes. I read most of it actually, though didn't get to the end. There are some…" Ren coughed "intimate parts to the book that I don't care for as much. But the story and characters are good from what I read. Also the author fortunately marks where the parts begin and end." Talon was kind of surprised. He figured Ren wouldn't be that kind of person, but he still read a book like this.

"So would you say that you would recommend this book to someone who doesn't care for the intimate parts?" Talon asked. Ren looked confused by nodded.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was looking for something to read myself, and you think it's at least good. Also, this is someone's book. Most of the time, people don't really want others to know they are into this kind of stuff. So I figured, I might as well read it and wait for whomever to come and get it, instead of leaving it for someone else to find who aren't going to be subtle about it." Ren thought about that for a moment. It felt wrong to read someone else's book without permission. But Talon did have a point. Someone wouldn't want to admit to owning, let alone liking that kind of book. For someone else to find it, wouldn't be an ideal situation for them. Also…he could finally read the ending since the copy he had read ended up destroyed in an 'accident' curtesy of Nora.

"Alright, but we are giving it back to whoever owns it."

*an hour later *

Blake was walking slightly faster than normal toward the library. She desperately hoped that her sm- ROMANCE novel was there and no one had found it. She had taken time there to read it…again, and before she left remembered she needed a couple of books for classwork. Unfortunately, she forgot she set her book down and left it there. It would be social suicide if someone found it and linked it back to her, but she had to try and get it back. She entered the library, heading toward the back where she had been sitting, hoping desperately that no one…had…found it. Blake stood there in near panic seeing that someone had found it. Not only that, it was 2 people, and people she knew. Talon and Ren were sitting there reading her book casually. On near instinct she quickly leapt for it and snatched from the table, holding it behind her as if somehow it would make them forget it was ever there. Talon and Ren jumped in surprise when she did, and starred at her for a minute or two.

"Well-" Talon began before Blake quickly interrupted him.

"It's not smut!" She said somewhat loudly, she was still in a library after all. Both Talon and Ren blinked. Talon looked at Ren.

"Did you call it smut? I could've sworn that I didn't."

"No, I certainly didn't. Are you hearing things Blake?" Ren asked. Blake blinked at that…then blinked again.

"Wh-What?"

"Neither one of us said it was smut. So I don't know why you proclaimed it wasn't." Talon stated.

"But…but you were reading it."

"Indeed we were. We were reading an…intense romantic book." Ren stated. Blake blinked again.

"Wait…so...you like these books?"

"Well…Neither of us are very fond of the…romantic scenes. But I read the book before and like the story and characters, but never got to the ending. As for Talon…" Ren started.

"This is the first time I ever saw or read the book, but…I found the book enjoyable so far, again slightly disregarding the romantic scenes." Blake was astonished. Sure they weren't as much of a fan of the book as she was, but they still liked the book. She slowly lowered the book from behind her.

"Well…if that's the case…maybe I could let you read the rest of it? But don't tell anyone else, please!"

"We won't, promise." Talon swore.

"Indeed, and thank you" Ren smiled. Blake smiled back. She let them read the rest of the book and they even discussed it a bit, with Blake slightly embarrassing herself when she showed her excitement about the book a little.

*The next day*

It was the weekend, and Talon took the opportunity, with permission, to spend some time in the kitchen. The reason? He had a promise to keep. Specifically, a demand to fulfill. He had gathered the ingredients and set to work. Making the dough, kneading it, and setting the small morsels before putting them in the oven. He pulled out his scroll before sending a message and waiting. After a while he soon had them ready before he heard footsteps.

"Talon?" He heard before grabbing his things and heading out into the actual cafeteria. He found Ruby waiting for him.

"Why did you ask me come here?"

"Why else would I ask you to come here? I have a promise to fulfill." Ruby was confused before her eyes grew wide and, dare he say it, began to sparkle. He smiled and pulled out a plate filled with cookies and set them down on a table. Ruby zipped into the seat by them and began to dig in, savoring them.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" came the voice of Nora.

"Oh hey, I'm just fulfilling a promise." He indicated to Ruby who simply waved since her mouth was full of cookie. Nora saw the plate of cookies and asked if she could try one. Ruby simply grabbed the plate, trying to hoard them for herself.

"Ruby" Talon said simply. Ruby then reluctantly gave one to Nora, a small one of course. Nora took it and ate.

"Oh wow, this is pretty good. Did you make this?" Nora asked Talon.

"Yea. It's a recipe Ruby's mom used. Like they say, nothing beats a mom's cooking."

"I guess…wait, does this mean you can cook?" Nora asked suddenly. Talon blinked.

"Yea…you do remember I lived in the wilderness for years right? I had to learn."

"So does Ren! I wonder which of you is better." Nora stated.

"Probably Ren. He likely has had better ingredients than what I had to work with. But I wouldn't mind seeing how good he is." Ruby suddenly perked up.

"Oh oh! Maybe you guys could cook together some time." Talon looked surprised at this.

"Hmmm….I suppose we could." Both girls were now suddenly imagining some awesome food could by the guys. Needless to say, there started to be a couple puddles of drool on the floor.

*The next day*

Talon and Pyrrha had just returned from a trip into Vale to stock up on supplies and buy various things for themselves and their team.

"I'm glad we were able to get everything in one trip. It usually takes longer…though I suppose that would be due to Nora." Pyrrha said, not wanting to bad mouth her teammate.

"Just don't let her hear you say that, or we'll have to deal with the 'queen'." Talon said jokingly, while also being completely serious. Pyrrha laughed a little at that. They were just reaching the door to go back inside the academy when the door opened up, revealing 3 of the members of Team Cardinal: Dove, Russel, and Sky.

"Well well, look who it is…the freak." Said one of them. Talon's eyes narrowed slightly, but did nothing else in response.

"Yea, haven't seen you since Forever Fall. Surprised you survived. Heard you had some problems though." Said one of the others.

"Yea, seems you really aren't all that good after all. Can't even take care of one Grimm." Said the last one.

"I guess. Though that makes me question what that means for you 3 who simply ran away leaving your friend and leader behind." Talon responded simply. This of course, as he knew, simply annoyed and angered them. Pyrrha was also getting annoyed but she knew better than to say anything and looked at Talon wondering why he said that.

"Oh think you're smart do ya? How bout we have some fun and-" One of them started saying before being interrupted.

"What are you guys doing?" Came the voice of their leader Cardin as he came through the door behind his teammates.

"Oh, hey Cardin, we just thought maybe we should show this freak his place. Don't you agree?" One of them said as the three of them slowly moved toward Talon. Talon started to brace himself for whatever they were about to do. Pyrrha also moved close to help. But it would seem that she wouldn't need to.

"That's enough you guys." Came the voice of Cardin. His teammates stopped with their eyes wide and looked at their leader.

"But Cardin-"

"I said. ENOUGH" Cardin said sternly with narrowed eyes. His teammates looked at each other confused as Cardin walked past them. He walked towards the side of Talon and stopped and slowly looked over to him. Talon looked back. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then finally, Cardin gave a very small nod toward Talon. Talon, after a few seconds, gave a very small nod back. Cardin then walked past the both of them towards the landing pad and bullhead. His teammates stood there shocked for several seconds before a yell from the leader to hurry up got them to restart their brains enough to follow after him. Pyrrha, who had been shocked and confused as the three members of Team CRDL had been, looked at Talon.

"Did…did you and Cardin just bond or something?" She asked, having no other idea as to what just happened.

"What? Bond? Heck no. Me and Cardin will never be friends, so why would I try?" Talon responded as he headed toward the door.

"Then…what was that about just now?" Talon looked toward the bullhead that was just beginning to take off.

"Let's just say…we have an understanding." Talon said as he went inside, with Pyrrha following behind still as confused as before.

*The next day*

"Uuuuuggh" Came the groan of Yang as she exited class for the day.

"Can you please stop" came the voice of Weiss as she followed behind her.

"But it's so boooorrring in class!" Yang proclaimed. "C'mon Talon, you agree with me don't you?" Yang asked her cousin, desperate to have someone who agreed with her.

"It doesn't matter if it is or isn't Yang. We need to get through the next 4 years so we can be called Huntsman and Huntresses." Talon reminded Yang. Yang just groaned more.

"Sometimes I wonder how the 2 of you are related." Weiss said offhandedly.

"You just know how to motivate her. Hey Yang, if you do well on the upcoming test, we can have another contest." Talon said smiling. Yang instantly perked up.

"Seriously!? Yes! You are so going down this time!" Yang said, a determination set in her face as she raced off.

"What just happened?" Weiss said after several seconds of confusion.

"You'll see. C'mon, we should probably start studying ourselves." Talon said as he headed off.

"Well thank you for getting her to study. I can never get her to until it's the day before." Weiss said following after him.

*A few days later*

"Hey, have you guys seen Yang or Talon?" Ruby asked her teammates and the rest of Team PLTN. Most responded with negative answers.

"Wait…we had that test yesterday. Do you know what her score was?" Weiss asked.

"Huh? Um…I think she actually scored pretty good…why?" Ruby asked in response.

"Remember how Yang was actually studying? Talon told her if she got a good score they'd…have a 'contest'?" Weiss explained in confusion.

"WHAT!? They're having a contest without me!?" Ruby asked very loudly. Everyone just looked at her in confusion. Once she noticed she groaned and told them to meet her at the training area. Later they all arrived and heard the sounds of combat, finding Talon and Yang fighting each other. Both of them had smiles on their faces. They were trading blows with one another, dodging to and fro. Finally Yang threw a punch, which Talon blocked with the pole of his scythe, slid back and fell to a knee as he took a breath.

"Hah! Aw yeah I'm up one!" Yang proclaimed, holding up a finger. Talon looked up at her with slightly wide eyes and scoffed.

"Where did you learn to count? We're even." Talon said pointing between her and himself. Yang paused at that, seemingly thinking before groaning and slouching over, thinking she had gotten a lead. Everyone just stood there watching confused, except for Ruby.

"You guys are having a contest without me!?" This got Talon's and Yang's attention. Talon suddenly got sheepish.

"Oops…sorry Little Red. Guess I forgot about adding you in trying to get Yang to study." Yang also looked sheepish.

"Can someone explain what this 'contest' is?" Pyrrha asked. All three of them looked at the rest of them.

"Guess so. You see…for the most part me, Yang and Ruby grew up together as if we were siblings. As siblings are, they tend to get into fights and compete for things. Well, me and Yang were that way and at some point started keeping score. We kind of made a game out of it. And of course, eventually, Ruby wanted in on it, even if we took it easy on her at times." This came with an indignant shout from Ruby. "So, every now and again we have a 'contest' to see if any of us can get an additional score on the others."

"Really? How many 'points' do you guys have?" Nora asked, slightly interested.

"Talon has 19, I have 16, and Ruby has 9 since she couldn't really join in at first and had to play catch up." Yang smiled smugly at Ruby who did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at her.

"Wait, then what did Talon mean by 'we're even'?" Nora asked.

"Oh, when we fight we go to best of 10 before adding a point. Me and Yang are tied at 3 each right now." Talon stated.

"Well we're starting over. You're not keeping me out of this." Ruby said, bringing out Crescent Rose. The other two looked at each other and shrugged and got into positions. The others simply stood to the side and watched. Yang suddenly blasted off toward Talon ready to give him some pain. Talon swiped at her with his scythe, but she jumped over it and as she was sailing over him, pulled back to blast him with her shotguns. Just as she fired, Talon quickly brought the broad side of the blade that had gone to his side up and knocked her hand to the side. Yang landed, only for Ruby to come in like a bullet, feet coming in with her speed for a 'heavy' kick, only for Yang to block and push her back. Talon blasted a few shots, forcing Yang to dodge. Ruby used the moment of distraction to head to Talon and start swinging. Talon responded in kind, using kicks occasionally when he dodged just enough for her blade to miss. Yang shot in, trying to drive a roundhouse into Talon, who blocked with his blade. He had to swiftly move away as Ruby swung, impacting the floor and breaking a few chunks off in the process. Some of the others were starting to get shocked at how serious they seemed to be all of a sudden. Was this how they usually trained together? They match kept going, swing after swing, shot after shot, broken chunks adding to the area. Finally, it seemed it might be winding down a little as Ruby over compensated a dodge and got punched by Talon and landed a small ways away, though she wasn't fully out yet. Talon suddenly had to remember Yang was still there and had to start dodging as she started to be relentless. He knew he couldn't keep it up, but she had the higher stamina between the two. Due to this he was starting to slow, and eventually got hit. This sent him sailing, due to the extra power she got from the prolonged fight. As he was flying, he saw Ruby now standing and decided to take a gamble. He grabbed her arm, which earned a yell since he seemingly came out of nowhere, and using her like a pole spun around before picking her up off her feet and threw her hard at Yang and falling over. Yang now saw a red screaming, and flailing, bullet heading towards her. Instinct took over as she tried to catch Ruby, only to get impacted hard and both of them flew over to the wall and got the wind knocked out of them and fell over. Everyone just stood there starring in near amazement at the three of them. They all went to one of the three to make sure they were ok. After a while they got up and sat down with each other. Talon started chuckling ruefully.

"Well…guess no one gets a point today." Yang and Ruby both nodded, but had smiles on their faces. Nora suddenly zipped in between all of them.

"That was AMAZING!"

"That was indeed a wonderful performance. I found the fact that you were able to dodge so swiftly and be able to counter very well done." Ren complimented.

"Yes, you all seem to be able to fight very well against each other, if in a…destructive manner" Pyrrha put in her two cents, while trying to be nice about it.

"Well duh, we've done this a few times. Honestly that's usually how we fight when we're serious. Most fights we do tone it down a little though." Yang replied.

"Seriously? None of the fights before now, not even initiation, were you fighting seriously?" Weiss asked surprised.

"Well, to be fair, we were trying to fight an opponent we couldn't exactly hit most of the time." Ruby supplied, referring to the fact that the Nevermore could fly and they couldn't.

"Well, she has a point." Blake responded.

"You can blame Talon for the brutal parts though." Yang said, pointing at Talon. The rest of them were confused and looked at Talon. Talon sighed.

"When you are out in the wilds with: No one nearby to help you, near constant Grimm presence, and only have your skills to survive…you don't have the luxury to fight in a showy and spectacular way. You kill, and effectively kill, or you die. No alternatives." Talon told them in a very serious manner, to which they got the message.

"So all…this" Weiss said somewhat awkwardly, gesturing to the destroyed room "Is how you guys normally fight?"

"Pretty much. We don't fight like that with actual people though. We hold back when necessary. Talon told us the same thing and well…since we couldn't let him keep winning in our 'contests' so we asked him to give us some training to help us get better." Ruby explained.

"While it was fun to keep winning, it wasn't as fun to actually fight. So I decided to help them." Talon said somewhat smugly. Both Yang and Ruby stuck their tongues out at him.

"You said you had to fight like that…the Grimm out there are that fierce?" Blake asked. Talon looked at her seriously.

"Yes…there are far more than beowolves, ursa, and boarbatusks out there. There are some extremely dangerous Grimm that most people don't ever fight. I have nearly died more times than I could count. In a weird way, I've been saved several times only due to my semblance." Talon said, raising his left gloved hand.

"Then…could you maybe…train us?" Pyrrha asked, slightly catching on to what Blake seemed to be thinking. She was all for improving, and if it helped her partner, she would do her best to let him know that they were there for him. Talon's eyes widened, not really expecting that but slightly smiled.

"Well, if you would really want it sure. All three of us can" Talon said, looking at his cousins who nodded.

"REALLY!?" Nora asked, excited to be a part of the mayhem. All three of them smiled, as they all began to discuss various topics in regard to training with the others. As Talon sat there, talking and watching everyone, he felt that maybe they had begun to accept him and his semblance. He found it odd, that they seemed to just not care. Well, maybe for Ruby and Yang it made sense, but even so. He was glad that he was able to push forward without at least some company. The road was long still, and his mission was only still beginning.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Reciprocating Trust

The next week seem to go by in a blur. Talon was slowly starting to feel like he had people who could actually accept him. It plagued his mind though as to why this was. He tried not to let it show though, and honestly he really just wanted to enjoy the time he was given. As such he spent a good portion of the time training, hanging out, and even studying with everyone. Well…okay studying wasn't exactly an enjoyable thing to do but somehow, him and his…friends? He hoped that was what they were; still they somehow made it enjoyable. Right now though, he was helping his teammates as they were standing in the training area. Team RWBY went off the city to see the preparations for the upcoming festival, so Talon thought it was a good idea to prepare in their own way by getting in some training.

"So, what should we work on today?" Pyrrha asked. Pyrrha had been especially helpful at times in the past week. She seemed like she was trying to really show Talon that he had people there for him.

"Well, mostly on the things that I think we really need to work on." He said as they all stood together.

"Like what?" Nora asked, ready for anything.

"First off: Ren…you need to get your stamina and strength up" Talon said, looking at Ren. Ren sighed and nodded. He knew that his endurance was…well not great for an aspiring Hunter. Nora gave him a slightly sympathetic look. Talon then looked toward her. "Nora, you need to work on control, sorry to say"

"What!? I have plenty of control." Nora said dismissively. The other 3 just stared at her. "What are you all staring at me for!?" She demanded.

"Nora, he is correct." Ren plainly stated. Nora flinched.

"You too Renny!?" Ren simply nodded.

"Nora, we aren't saying you are doing something wrong. Just that maybe you should not use your full strength all the time." Pyrrha tried to smoothly make a point.

"She's right. In any situation, we don't know how many enemies we will have. Or how strong they will be for that matter. All your attacks are practically full strength from the get go. If you spare some of your strength, you'll have more later on." Talon explained. Nora simply folded her arms and pouted. Talon took that as an ok, and turned to Pyrrha. "As for you miss 'invincible girl'" Pyrrha smiled and looked to the side. She knew she was the most well rounded out of them all. Sure she could improve, but well, she trained a lot even before coming to Beacon. "Mostly it's going to be training your strength and your capabilities without your weapons." Pyrrha blinked at that.

"What are you going to be doing?" Ren asked Talon.

"I'm going to be training with all of you." The others looked confused. "I may not be as good as Yang, but I'm still good at hand to hand combat. Kinda had to be when we had some matches together. We'll use this method in order to train ourselves in what we need to improve." Talon explained.

"How so?" Nora asked, not really seeing how only hand to hand would be able to help all of them in the ways that were stated.

"Simple: Ren can gain strength from blocking hits as well as giving them. And going at it long enough can help with his stamina. You can learn how not to hit so hard, since you don't want to seriously injure us. Pyrrha while good at strength, couldn't hit really hard without a weapon in hand. As for me, I'll get a good training all around from it, as well as keeping myself able to adapt to the situation as it changes." Talon fully explained. The others were surprised at the full explanation Talon gave. "I've had some time to think about it." He further elaborated. And so they sparred together. Bruises were on all of them by the end. Pyrrha got the method down quickly, but did lack some actual strength. Ren had even less strength, but was the most fluid among them and was able to counter and dodge very well. Nora had a lot of trouble holding back since she tended to get really into fights, and could not dodge all that well. Talon had a good grasp all around since he had Yang to practice with a few times and had kept up on practice.

After a couple of hours they finished and headed back to their room with each of them feeling at least a little sore. However, when they were getting near their room a sudden cry that sounded like someone was saying Blake's name made them freeze for a moment before they started to hurry back down the halls. When they arrived, they found Team RWBY's door open and Ruby standing there, with Weiss and Yang inside.

"What's going on?" Talon asked as he came up to Ruby. Ruby looked at him in apprehension before looking back into the room. Weiss, who had been looking shocked, suddenly looked angry and about ready to launch in a rant more than likely before Yang stopped her.

"Weiss!" Yang said, stopping her from saying something. Weiss looked at Yang angrily and looked off to the side with her arms crossed and went off to her own corner to not interact with anyone. Ruby looked back at them sadly.

"Things…haven't gone very well today. Blake and Weiss got into an argument and…Blake ran away just now." This surprised Team PLTN and they looked at each other in worry.

"Is…is she coming back?" Pyrrha asked in worry. Ruby just looked down and shook her head, indicating she didn't know. Both teams went back to their rooms, worried about Blake. Well, most of them were worried about Blake. After a couple of days, it seemed like she still hadn't returned. When Talon saw Ruby and her team heading off to the city to look for Blake, he offered his help in looking for her, which his team also agreed to help. So they set out for the city, looking all over and splitting up to cover more ground. Talon wondered around for a while, looking in every direction he could think of. Finally after a while, luck seemed to grace him, as he saw Blake a ways away with someone else. From what he could see, it seemed to be a male as well as a faunus with a tail. Though he couldn't tell much more since they were a good distance away. They hadn't seen him since their backs were to him and since he didn't know what she was doing nor why Blake ran away, he figured it would be best to not suddenly let them know he was there. Instead he decided to follow them discreetly.

*Timeskip*

Talon sat hiding and watching Blake as she was watching a warehouse area with a bunch of freight containers. Soon the faunus male came back after leaving and joined her. Talon still wasn't quite sure what they were doing. There had to be something about this area or whatever items were in this warehouse area that was significant enough for them to be here. There was a slight…doubtful voice in the back of his mind that was nagging at him, saying that they were here to steal something. There were very few reasons why someone would be acting this shady and sneaky around a place like this. He didn't want to listen to it, but he had few other ideas right now. The only saving grace was that they hadn't done anything yet. Fortunately, he seemed he wouldn't have to wait long. Suddenly out of nowhere a bullhead came upon the area. It flew down and landed in the middle of the warehouse area. Opening up and offloading a number of people in white and black getups with a red icon that was the head of a predator and slash marks through it. Talon had been to a lot of places, he knew the icon: The White Fang. He had encountered a few small groups and even helped stop or lessen the damage of an operation or two of theirs. While Blake and the faunus were still there, suddenly a different character came off the bullhead. A guy wearing a top hat and holding a cane. From the story Talon was told by Ruby, he gathered that this was Roman Torchwick who Ruby thwarted that night she got accepted into Beacon. He seemed to be saying things to the White Fang members before suddenly Blake jumped down with her weapon drawn. Taking this as an opportunity, Talon snuck closer, trying to see and hear what was going on. When he finally could see her, he saw her holding Torchwick hostage with her blade at his neck. Not knowing what she was trying to do, he hoped she at least was being smart about it and hopefully not going to do something drastic…if at least this didn't already count as such. Suddenly, she reached up and seemed to take off her bow…revealing a small pair of cat ears.

'…Well then' Talon thought 'that's apparently a thing…and maybe explains why she eats tuna so much.' If he had longer to consider it, Talon would also consider that might potentially be why Blake seemed to do that thing cats do where they sit there and stare at you.

"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?" Blake asked the White Fang members. Brothers? So did that mean…Blake was a member of the White Fang? Did that mean she was at Beacon as a spy? He would need to get some answers out of her.

"Oh kid, didn't you get the memo? The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together." Roman stated with a small smirk on his face. Blake held her weapon a little closer to his neck.

"Tell me what it is or I'm going to put an end to your little operation." Well, that at least put a point or two towards Blake being good, but still left questions. Unfortunately, just then two more bullheads arrived, likely bringing in more White Fang members. As Talon was looking at the bullheads, an explosion suddenly echoed as Torchwick blasted Blake back and away from him. Talon gritted his teeth and cursed as he pulled out his weapon. Talon quickly went down as Torchwick prepared to fire upon Blake more. He switched his weapon to rifle mode and shot at Torchwick who jumped back a bit as Talon landed in front of Blake.

"I don't think so." Talon said as he starred at Torchwick. Torchwick looked at Talon and shivered in near fear. Torchwick was no coward, to be in his line of work and to be as brazen as he was at times would be a bad way to live for a coward. However, he wasn't all that brave either. Looking at Talon's eye caused him to nearly want to retreat just to never see and feel the aura Talon had. However that wasn't going to happen. While looking at Talon caused fear, he was sure he would be in more danger if he didn't continue his work.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked, in shock at Talon being there.

"Was looking for you, just as the others are." Blake looked more shocked at this. "Then I find and followed you to find you involved with this… and the White Fang." Blake cringed and worry started to fill her. "We are _going _to be having a chat about all this when this is all said and done." Talon looked straight at Blake to emphasize the point, which he knew would work with his eye and aura. Blake looked away a little guilty before she started to get up and both her and Talon looked to Torchwick.

"As if one wasn't enough to deal with." He said before he started to fire upon them. Blake started to pull back using her clones to help her escape while Talon dodged to the side. Talon fired a couple of shots to get Torchwicks attention. It worked as he fired more upon Talon, which forced him to pull back more since the shots blew apart the ground near him.

"A freak of nature as his little kitty cat…" Torchwick was suddenly interrupted as a banana peel landed on his hat. Taking it off he looked up to see where it came from, only to see a body slowly flying towards him with a scream of 'I'm here too!' The feet of the body suddenly slammed into Torchwick's head, sending him to the ground. The faunus landed on his feet and turned to Torchwick.

"Leave her alone." He stated before the other bullheads opened up and dropping in more White Fang members. Torchwick sent them at the, now shown to be, monkey faunus who started fighting back with his fists before pulling out a staff. He twirled it around, beating one White Fang member after another. Blake jumped down from above and dashed at Torchwick, slashing this way and that in a cyclone of slashes with her two blades, getting behind him and using clones as distractions. Torchwick jumped back, firing a few shots off at her. Blake was forced to dodge away as Talon came up from the side of Torchwick and took some swings himself. Torchwick fought back as best he could, taking a few swings himself. Torchwick was having trouble doing so as with a weapon like Talon's meant he couldn't really hold against it with just his cane. Instead Torchwick maneuvered his cane more like a rapier, stabbing at Talon in quick attacks to catch Talon off guard. Talon blocked the strikes before dodging to the side and kicking Torchwick in the head. Blake then took the opportunity to return to fighting Torchwick. However she was letting herself get too caught up in the fight as Torchwick started to get a few hits in. After the first hit, Blake's focus was deteriorating and Torchwick took advantage by smack her with his cane several times before she was saved by the monkey faunus. The faunus switched his weapon mode to a pair of nun chucks that were also hand held shotguns. He spun them around hitting Torchwicks cane but also repeatedly firing blast after blast, leaving Torchwick nothing to do but defend. This left him open to getting a hard kick in the torso by Talon. As Torchwick got up, he spied a freight container above them and fired at it, bringing it down and forcing them to dodge out of the way. The faunus, unfortunately, dodged toward Torchwick and left himself vulnerable.

"Hey!" a shout rang out. All of them turned toward where Ruby came into view with her weapon at the ready.

"Oh hey Red, isn't it past your bedtime?" Torchwick asked sarcastically. Talon suddenly saw another girl walk up towards Ruby from behind. She had orangish hair and a white and greenish outfit. He had no idea who she was, but she wasn't approaching like she was going to harm Ruby as she was speaking with her. Unfortunately Talon wasn't paying attention enough as Torchwick fired at Ruby, knocking her away. Talon gritted his teeth and launched at Torchwick for harming Ruby. Torchwick, who was laughing, didn't notice this before he was suddenly hit hard, sending him into a nearby freight container. Suddenly, swords were flying down onto nearby White Fang members as the girl who was with Ruby landed and started a strange and almost pretty dance of death with these seemingly floating swords she had. Spinning around with her swords and sending them flying in a buzz saw formation bowling over the rest of the White Fang that was there. At least until a few more bullheads arrived, firing upon all of them. Talon, Blake, and the faunus guy had to take cover while the mysterious girl blocked the bullets heading toward her. Suddenly she seemingly propelled backwards before she used her swords and started to gather a lot of some kind of energy and blasted a laser of all things and cleaved the bullheads in half. Talon just stood there in near amazement before collecting himself in time to see the girl launch her swords at a remaining bullhead trying to leave, then watch her walk backwards and…somehow…pull the bullhead a little as well. Talon stood there watching in confusion before a slight gleam caught his attention. He looked closely and saw a very thin line gleaming between the girl and the bullhead.

'Strings?' he thought in confusion. The girl then pulled the bullhead and dragged it off course as it crashed into the ground and exploded. Suddenly remembering, Talon looked around only to find Torchwick getting on the last remaining bullhead. Talon quickly pulled his rifle out and fired, only for the Torchwick to pull the door shut, causing the bullet to fly bounce off harmlessly. The bullhead took off before the girl could catch it, allowing Torchwick to escape…again.

*Timeskip*

The five of them sat there near the police cars as they waited for the rest of their teams. It was decided that they would wait until everyone was there to get the full story out of Blake. Soon enough, the rest of Teams PLTN and RWBY arrived. Ruby got up and tried to explain to Weiss somewhat quickly that things were ok and that she didn't need to be mad.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang" Blake said, causing the other 3 of Team PLTN to widen their eyes. Blake tried to continue before Weiss stopped her.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?" It was rhetorical so Blake didn't answer. "12 hours. That means I've had 12. _Hours_. To think about this. And in those 12 hours, I've decided…" Blake looked very unsure at this point. "I don't care."

"You…don't care?" Blake asked confused.

"You said you weren't with them anymore…right?" Weiss asked.

"No. No not since…"

"A-bup bup bup. I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates. And not some-…someone else." Weiss said, stopping herself from saying something again. Blake nodded as Ruby celebrated the team being back together. "I'm still not sure on how I should feel about you." Weiss said toward the faunus boy, who laughed nervously.

"Who is he by the way?" Talon asked.

"Oh hey, yeah sorry we couldn't chat during that whole thing. Sun Wukong is my name. I'm here for the Vytal festival."

"So…" They all turned toward Team PLTN as Nora spoke up, letting them know they were still there. "Blake is…a faunus?" Blake looked down, slightly unsure about this as she didn't want that many people knowing. But she nodded all the same, wiggling her ears in her bow and pointing to it to emphasize the point. The 3 members of Team PLTN were shocked by this but, since none of them had anything against faunus, got over their shock quickly.

"Then…why hide it?" Ren asked, looking at Blake for an answer. Blake felt a little guilty since she had gotten along with Ren, as she did Talon.

"Well…as you heard, I was once in the White Fang. I…I was in it for a long time, even before their policies…changed. After a while I started to look at what the White Fang was starting to become and I questioned if this was really the right way to fight for faunus rights. Finally, I had enough and I left. I still wanted to do some good and do right for the faunus, which left me with really only one option: Becoming a huntress. But I wanted people to see me becoming a huntress as who I am, not as me being a faunus. So I decided to hide my ears, at least until I became moderately successful." Blake explained. The 3 of Team PLTN looked at each other, and then looked at Talon who nodded a little.

"Well…if that's really what you want, then we won't say anything." Pyrrha stated. Blake blinked in surprise.

"You...won't?"

"Of course, you've given us no reason to doubt you yet. And it's not like we hate the faunus." Ren explained as they all smiled at her. Blake couldn't believe her luck and smiled back, wiping a stray tear.

"Thank you." Suddenly Ruby perked up a moment before looking around.

"What is it Ruby?" Talon asked.

"I'm wondering where Penny went."

"Penny?" Pyrrha asked

"She was a girl that was with us, but she seems to have vanished."

"Well I'm sure she can take care of herself." Ruby said, knowing after seeing what Penny was capable of, she would be fine.

*Time skip*

Torchwick entered a warehouse with a case and set it down on a table before there was a bang, alerting him to some visitors.

"Oh…it's you. Wasn't expecting you so soon."

"Well we were expecting more from you." A woman stated.

"You were the ones who suggested working with those mutts."

"And you will continue to do so." The woman stated in such a way that it was undeniably an order. "We have big plans for you Roman. All we ask, is a little cooperation." The woman said, starting a glowing fire in her hands as two more figures stood beside her.

***End of Volume 1***


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Work and Fun

Blake sat at lunch, looking at a book of hers. She stared at the images and writing, her mind in slight conflict. Even now she still wasn't sure of what to do, or what possibilities were even open to her. Unfortunately she wouldn't have much time to think.

"Whatcha doin?" said Yang as she slid up to Blake to take a peak. Blake quickly closed the book, to prevent Yang from seeing any of it and then hound it on her for the rest of year.

"Just going over notes from last semester." Blake said, using a plausible scenario. Yang suddenly diverted over to catch a piece of food flying through the air in her mouth. The flying piece of food came curtesy of Nora, who was sitting across from them with her team. Their activity was halted however as suddenly a giant binder was practically slammed onto the table by Ruby. A piece of paper was on the binder which read: Vytal Festival Activities property of Weiss Schnee Best Day Ever Activities!

"Ahem. Sisters. Friends. Weiss."

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream." Ruby began.

"This ought to be good" Yang stated.

"That one day, the four of us would come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had! Ever!" Ruby proclaimed.

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss asked.

"I am not a crook." Ruby said, holding up her hands in victory signs.

"Right, cause no one can tell what the words that were crossed out on that binder say." Talon interjected. In response, Ruby suddenly brought out a red marker and proceeded to fully cross out the words quickly, causing a lot of squeaking noises.

"Will you stop that!?" Weiss demanded, though too late as the crossed out words were no longer readable.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked

"I'm talking about kicking off our semester with a bang!"

"I always start my semesters off with a Yang!" Most every shook their heads at this. An apple suddenly flew through the air and hit Yang in the face.

"That pun has never been good, and has only gotten worse." Talon stated.

"Oh come on. You like my puns!" Yang exclaimed. Most of everyone else looked at Talon.

"I think some are funny. But half of yours are still bad." Talon stated. This caused Yang to gasp dramatically and fall onto the table as if she had just been wounded. Another apple came and hit her in the head, which caused to her to jolt up angrily.

"Look guys, our second semester is looking to be a good one. Exchange students coming, a tournament at the end of the year. But classes start tomorrow, so I decided to schedule a series of wonderful events for today." Ruby said, slightly getting faster at the end due to nervousness and worry that her teammates wouldn't want to participate. Yang proceeded to throw back the apples that hit her hard. Two cries of pain echoed off a couple of seconds later.

"I don't know if I should feel proud or scared of what you have planned for this." Weiss said.

"I don't know. I…I think I might sit this one out." Blake said, not really looking at Ruby.

"Sit out or not, I do think that we should spend this last day as a team." Weiss said in response.

"I want in!" Came a yell as suddenly a pie came screaming into Weiss's face. Everyone came shocked as they suddenly turned to find Nora slowly getting down from mid throw. Ren was face-palming. Pyrrha had a look that was somewhere between trying not to laugh and being incredibly shocked. Talon just sat there with wide eyes, before looking toward Nora. "Uh…I thought we were starting a throwing contest…" She said unconvincingly.

*Meanwhile*

Sun and another guy with blue hair were walking outside of one of the buildings of Beacon Academy.

"So we were fighting side by side. She was super-fast, I threw a banana at one guy, which sounds gross but was awesome, and that one guy was…really creepy but he turned out to be pretty cool in his own way."

"Sounds like a real party."

"I know right? But the best part is, she turned out to be a faunus. But that's a secret ok?"

"Got it."

"And not a 'I'm gonna go tell Scarlet as soon as Sun turns his back'. I mean secret secret." Sun said, getting up in the other guys face a little to prove his point.

"Woah, chill out man. I got this, I understand."

"I just don't want to screw this up man. These guys seemed really cool, no offense to you guys." The other guy blew it off, not really offended. Neither of them noticing through the windows they were passing by that there were things hitting and smearing on the windows, panicking students, and one student hitting the window with colored splotches all over his uniform.

"I'm excited for you to meet them, so be cool." Sun said just as the about got to the door.

"Dude, it's me." The other guys said, giving a smile that almost seemed to give a sparkle.

"Good point." Sun said before the almost literally burst through the door. What awaited them was not what they expected. Many panicking students rushed by, some with food on them. After the rush, laughter began to emanate through the hall. The both of them looked over to see Nora, laughing maniacally, or at least attempting to, as she stood high up on small mountain of tables stacked up like a fort, with the rest of Team PLTN standing in the front of the table fort as if guarding it. Meanwhile, at the other end of the hall, Ruby planted her foot at the end of a table.

"Justice will be swift. Justice will be painful. It will be delicious!" She screamed as the rest of Team RWBY cheered on behind her. Nora Jumped off her tower and Team PLTN began their assault with watermelons. From kicking, throwing and launching, watermelons began to fly through the air at Team RWBY.

"Yang, turkey!" Ruby ordered. Yang summersaulted forward, planting her hands in a couple of whole turkeys as makeshift boxing gloves. Yang faced the incoming barrage of watermelons, striking forward to destroy them, while dodging back and to the side of a few. Blake jumped over her, landing and grabbing a baguette and charging forward, with Yang close behind her. Blake grabbed another baguette, spinning and using them as makeshift swords to destroy a few more melons that came at her. Yang destroyed the last two before launching her makeshift turkey gloves at Talon and Pyrrha. Pyrrha dodged to the side while Talon dodged the first and quickly grabbed the leg of the second, spun around and launched it back. Blake got in front of Yang and batted it away before launching at Pyrrha. Pyrrha quickly grabbed a baguette of her own before dodging Blake's downward strike. They locked blades for a moment before Pyrrha took a swing, only for Blake to use her semblance to dodge and land behind her. In a flurry of strikes and dodges they dance. Blake jumped up and threw one of her baguettes at Pyrrha, who dodged. Pyrrha launched herself in a spearhead move, scoring a direct hit and launching Blake back and knocking her other baguette out of her hand. Pyrrha launched it at Yang, who simply used her strength to break them. Ruby came up and used a tray to slide across the table before jumping and smacking another baguette out of the air, before returning down and sliding it up toward Pyrrha as a force of body and metal. The force knocked her back a bit, forcing Ren and Nora to push forward. In response, Weiss moved forward with a ketchup bottle and squeezed it so hard that a large puddle of ketchup spread across the ground, causing Ren to slip and slide into a collection of tables and various things that exploded outward. Nora jumped around various things and caught a metal pole that was attached to the wall, broke it off and implanted it into a melon that had somehow survived the carnage of its brethren. Now having a makeshift hammer, she rolled forward and brought her hammer down, launching Ruby backwards while Weiss rolled out of the way. She looked and found an entire sword fish just lying there and grabbed it as a makeshift rapier. Had any of them not been so focused on their fight, they might have wondered where all this extra food had come from. In a spear headed move, she charged Nora and knocked her back bit, but not enough to take her out. Nora charged forward, swinging at Weiss and spinning around for an additional strike. Weiss dodged and parried as best she could. She was no match for Nora personally, but she could still get some strikes in if she could manage. Unfortunately, Nora was not planning on letting her. She began to spin her makeshift hammer around in circles, strike toward Weiss and blocking any possible point she could have to strike. Nora pushed forward, causing Weiss to falter before she spun and slammed her hammer into Weiss and sending her flying. Weiss landed against the wall, knocking her out, and fell only to be caught by Ruby, who proceeded to call her name dramatically as if she was dead. This was showed to be false as Weiss reached up and gave a light slap to Ruby's head, who gave a low 'ow' in response. Yang jumped forward, once again grabbing two turkeys as makeshift gloves and ran forward. Ren, having recovered from his bowling experience, ran forward to meet her. He flipped over a table and grabbed two leeks as makeshift swords. Yang rushed forward and tried to kick Ren, only for him to block it with the leeks. Yang then spun around with another kick, which Ren dodged. Ren kneed her in the back before spinning around smacking her with one of the leeks. Yang retaliated with a few swings, sending Ren reeling a little. Using the momentum he spun around again to smack Yang with a leek, only for her to block it this time. Yang got another of hits in, with Ren trying to get another hit in. Yang tried for another strike, only for Ren to bat her arm away and spear a leek into her torso. Yang growled and retaliated with an uppercut, sending Ren flying. Ren, slightly reeling from the hit, threw down the leeks at Yang. Yang however sought to end this and jumped up to dodge the leeks and, once up where Ren was, sought to pummel him. Ren saw this at the last second and spun around so Yang's fist missed his head by a couple inches, and swung his foot around to slam into the back of Yang's head. Yang fell to the floor but swung and landed on her feet hard, causing a small shockwave that pushed the furniture around her away. She looked up to see Ren falling toward her. Ren pulled back his hand, as did Yang, and they swung at each other, with Yang's strength behind her fist and Ren's aura behind a palm strike. Both attacks met each other creating a more powerful shockwave. They seemed frozen, with pressure slowly building as neither backed down. Small cracks under Yang's feet appeared before Ren's attack was overwhelmed, launching him upwards and backwards. Nora, coming in for revenge for Ren, swung at Yang. Both swung and dodge attacks, until the both swung in near identical timing, only for Nora to come out the victor, launching Yang into the roof. Debry began to fall, causing Blake to jump back and grab onto a bunch of sausages linked together like a makeshift whip. Swinging it around wildly, she spun it in a large arc, smacking it into Nora and launching her back into a vending machine. That proceeded to dispense tons of grape sodas. Nora, after landing on her feet grabbed a couple, and shook them up before launching them. They exploded like grenades, causing Blake to dodge and backpedal away. Pyrrha got up and looked around at all the soda cans before seeing Talon arrive with a large sheet.

"Mind giving me a hand?" He asked, causing her to look at him confused. Blake rushed forward before stopping in surprise. Talon and Pyrrha had tied the large sheet across multiple tables, had pulled it back a lot, and had put a ginormous amount of sodas in it. "Fire in ze hole!" he yelled as they released the sheet, launching soda cans all over the place. Blake ran, trying to dodge, but unfortunately the spread between the cans was not generous and she got blasted away by one, only to get directly hit by another. Blake fell near the wall of the room as Ruby got up and saw her team was out of commission. A fire sprang to life in her eyes and she got into position and took off. She ran and ran, using her semblance to kick up a wind behind her. All of Team PLTN saw the oncoming pint-sized hurricane. Talon saw it and suddenly got a very wide grin on his face, one that, had anyone actually seen it, would've caused great fear in others. Just as Ruby, as a spinning missile, got close Talon jumped up and grabbed onto her. This did not stop her or slow her down as she continued on, picking up soda cans, any remaining food, and all sorts of cutlery and barreled past the rest of Team PLTN and catching them in the storm as well. The blur of red with a touch of black continued, until Talon started to pull on Ruby, making her wobble and lose control. Until finally at the end of the hall, Talon flipped Ruby around and planted his foot on her, planting her right into the wall. The force of her spinning attack and being planted onto the wall with a good amount of force because a large shockwave crack to implant into the wall. Talon quickly jumped off and as he flew through the air to the ground grabbed onto Pyrrha and Ren, who grabbed Nora as the various things that followed Ruby headed straight for them. All four of them got hit by a few things, but most of them landed on the wall or Ruby. When the dust cleared, Ruby fell to the ground with a thud and groan. She lifted her head a bit and saw Team PLTN, slightly holding themselves up from the ground and Talon looking at her. He smirked a little. "I'm up one." He said as he held up a finger. Ruby groaned and let her head fall in defeat.

Suddenly, all the furniture and began to lift up from the ground and began to move as if they had minds of their own and moved back into their proper places, as if the huge food fight never happened. They were placed back by the Miss Goodwitch who finally arrived at the scene.

"Children please, do not play with your food." She stated. Most of Teams RWBY and PLTN sat at the tables, most of them with a little bit of food on their uniforms, as Yang fell from the ceiling and implanted into one of the tables. Headmaster Ozpin came up from behind Miss Goodwitch.

"Let it go." He told her.

"They're supposed to be defenders of the world." She said.

"And they will be. But right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part." Ozpin said, resting a hand on Goodwitch's shoulder. "After all" He said looking toward Team PLTN, which Goodwitch's eyes followed. She saw Talon looking slightly pleased and laughing as Ruby shook her fist at him then sagging in defeat. "Some of them have had little chance to in their lives." He said before walking away. "and it isn't a role they'll have forever."

*Timeskip*

Currently Team RWBY and PLTN were all using various pieces of equipment to clean the cafeteria. While they weren't given any harsh punishment, they still left a mess in the wake of their intense food fight. As such they agreed that it was their responsibility to clean up.

"Uuuugghh." Came the groan of Nora as she sat with a rag cleaning up some grape juice from some of the exploded cans.

"No complaining pinky." Came Talon's voice as he was mopping up some watermelon juice.

"We made the mess; we have to clean it up." Came Weiss's two cents as she used a broom to sweep up some crumbs.

"But it was so worth it." Yang proclaimed. Everyone else could agree with that at least.

"How we doing? We can still get some my activities in today." Ruby said, not wanting to end the day she had planned with cleaning.

"There should still be a good several hours after this." Ren said, pulling out his scroll. "It would only be-…huh!?" Ren suddenly stopped himself.

"What's wrong?" Talon asked.

"I got a news alert. There's been an attack in town at…Tukson's Book Trade."

"What!?" Blake suddenly shouted. Everyone looked at her in surprise and slightly startled. Suddenly seeing them all look at her she slightly calmed herself. "I go there to get new books and…" She suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "I…kinda knew him." She wiggled her bow to emphasize the point.

"So he is…" Pyrrha trailed off purposefully. Blake nodded

"Was." She corrected. "Does it say what happened?" She asked Ren. Ren looked back at his scroll and fiddled with it a little before stopping wide eyed.

"He…he's been killed." He said looking at Blake. Blake just stood there in utter shock. All of them just stood there. It suddenly seemed as if their fun energy was sucked away, leaving only work in its place.

*Elsewhere*

"Did you really need to take those?" Asked a green haired girl.

"Why not? He ain't gonna need them." Replied a silver haired boy.

"Ugh. I swear I can't stand you." Stated the green haired girl.

"Why do you care? You steal things all the time. What difference is this?" Asked the silver haired boy.

"The difference is that I usually do for survival or to feel a pleasing feeling stealing from people and them being completely unaware. Furthermore, we had work to accomplish, not for you to indulge yourself."

"True, but it certainly was fun."

**Author note: I was not planning on the time I was going to start writing this chapter to suddenly be between Persona 5 Royal and FF7 remake. As such it was a slight challenge to not forget to keep writing. Why do these things have to have the worst timing? Also, I know things probably aren't that interesting to read with them being very close to the show, but I'm partly trying to keep it similar at first while also not being as good on making meaningful differences.**

**Also, does anyone else feel like Rooster Teeth has forgotten Ren has these palm strike moves? It's shown in the first fight he is in against the King Taijitu and in the RWBY console game and that's it. 7 volumes and he has only used it once.**

**Hope everyone who actually reads this are doing alright with the strange times we are in. Until next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Suspicious Activity

"Noooooo! My soldiers!" This was the sound that seemed to echo across the library. Talon was trying not to pay attention. He wasn't sure how well he was succeeding. Currently he and the rest of his team were in the library doing various things: Ren was reading a giant ass book, with Nora snoozing on one side of it, Talon himself was reading a smaller book, while Pyrrha was studying. Pyrrha looked at Talon reading a non-school related book and thought he should be studying, but knew his grades were good so she let it slide this time. While this was going on, Team RWBY was playing a game in the library, hence the noise. It was mostly Yang and Ruby playing, with Weiss somehow having agreed to play, but having no idea how to. Blake was also there but, her mind seemingly was elsewhere.

"Sup losers?" came the sudden voice of Sun as he and another guy came out of nowhere.

"Sun? What are you doing here?" Talon asked, closing his book and getting up from the table.

"O-oh, hey Talon" Sun said, slightly nervous all of a sudden when he saw Talon. "Ruby, Yang, Blake…Ice queen."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss asked, seriously confused.

"I never got a chance to introduce you to my old friend and teammate." Sun stated, ignoring Weiss's question.

"Aren't libraries meant for reading?" the new guy asked.

"Thank you!" Ren said, in slight exasperation, while Talon simply pointed at him as if to say 'exactly'. Nora suddenly awoke with a small exclamation of 'pancakes'.

"Shut up, don't be a nerd."

"Geh geh geh geh. Intellectual. Thank you." The new guy corrected. "I'm Neptune"

"So Neptune, where you from?" Weiss asked.

"Haven. I don't believe I caught you name, snow angel." Weiss was slightly caught off guard, but show hints of a smile.

"I'm Weiss."

"Oh brother." Talon muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"Be nice." Pyrrha said while slightly elbowing him in the side.

"I never took you for the board game playing type." Sun said to Blake.

"Actually…I think I'm done here." She said getting up. "I'll see you guys later." Blake walked off. Sun looked at the others in confusion.

"Women." Nora said while shrugging. Talon looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"If she's a woman, what's that make you?" Nora looked at him slightly in shock and proceeded to open her mouth before Ren cut her off.

"Not a woman." Nora, as well as a couple of the other gasped.

"Ren! How could you say that!?" Nora exclaimed.

"A woman implies an adult of the female gender, and you" He looked at Nora with a deadpan stare. "if Tuesday was any example" Nora flinched at this. "are not an adult." Nora simply slowly sagged over onto the table in defeat. Everyone else but Talon and Pyrrha looked on in confusion till Yang spoke up.

"Last Tues-?"

"Don't ask." Both Talon and Pyrrha said in unison.

*Time skip*

"Sooo..." a voice said in normal tone before being shushed then continuing in a more whispered tone. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because 2 reasons: One, based on how they've been acting, if I know my cousins, they are up to something that they don't want others to know. Two, I was asked by my uncle Tai to keep an eye on them if they get up to something." Another voice responded.

"Is 'them being up to something' cause for concern?" A voice asked that was different from the first.

"When they were 12 and 10, they decided they were gonna open a service involving cats."

"Well that sounds nice...did it not turn out ok?" a fourth voice asked.

"It did, once the fire finally died down."

"What!?" three voices exclaimed before being shushed, with one of them getting ideas. What was happening was Team PLTN was tailing Team RWBY and Sun and Neptune as they headed out into Vale. There was a moment where they just nearly lost them due to having to not take the same bullhead, but they had found them again.

"What do you mean 'fire'!?" Pyrrha exclaimed quietly, only to be ignored by Talon.

"Shit, they're splitting up." Talon said.

"What do we do?" Nora asked, wanting to either head back or get going on whatever Team RWBY was apparently up to. Talon saw Ruby and Weiss go one direction, Yang and Neptune go another, and Blake and Sun go another.

"We'll have to split up too. I'll follow Ruby and Weiss. Pyrrha, you follow Yang and Neptune. Ren and Nora, follow Blake and Sun." The others nodded. They were still skeptical about Team RWBY being up to anything, but after what Talon said, and since he knew them well, their skepticism had slightly drained. Talon proceeded to follow Weiss and Ruby from a fair distance, knowing that they likely wouldn't think anyone is following them. Well, maybe Ruby at least. She was never one for stealth and seeing as how they wouldn't think there's much of any danger, they'd likely not think to watch for any followers. Soon enough though, they arrived at the CCT Tower. Talon wondered what they could have to do here that they couldn't do at the school. He saw Ruby fumble around and drop something; he thought it looked like her scroll, only for that something to land at someone's feet.

'Penny!?' Sure enough it was the very same girl who had been there when they encountered Torchwick. They seem to converse for a moment, and while Talon couldn't tell what was said, it seemed like Penny was acting slightly nervous. She tossed Ruby her scroll and walked away, but it seemed Ruby wasn't satisfied as she took off after her with Weiss staying behind at the tower. After waiting for Weiss to move towards the tower, Talon decided to quickly head after Ruby. She and Penny seemed to talk, with Penny continually walking before they both stopped for a moment. Penny looked around, and then went up to Ruby and leading her off somewhere. This already got Talon suspicious. He already thought something was up with Penny, how she seemed to pull entire bullheads around. It wasn't that he thought she was untrustworthy. But at the same time there were things that seemed odd in regards to her. He would trust Ruby in that she said she was her friend, but until he had answers, he would remain suspicious. He followed them as they wandered around, seemingly talking with one another. Suddenly they stopped as a spectacle of some sort began. Talon couldn't see it, and even some of it he couldn't hear. It seemed to be something about Atlas and their technology. Suddenly Penny seemed to be acting very nervous, before bolting away across the street. Ruby ran after her a short time after she did, leaving Talon no choice but to follow.

"Hey!" Talon heard suddenly behind him and found a couple of soldiers running quite close behind him. Talon keeps moving, following after Ruby and Penny through alley ways and across streets. He sees Ruby up ahead pull out her scythe as she comes up upon a wooden platform with crates on it and slices through on of the support beams. As a Huntsman in training, he finds no problem jumping up and over the crates as he they fall. The soldiers however do not find it as easy to do. Talon turns the corner only to see Ruby zipping over to Penny, grabbing her, and preparing to launch down another alley. Seeing this, he books it over to Ruby and jumps just as she launches and grabs on to not lose them. The three of them barrel down the alley at high speed, knocking over various things.

"Talon!?" Ruby blurts out after a few seconds of not noticing the added weight.

"Pay attention!" He blurts back as, due to his added weight, the three person missile was losing altitude and before Ruby could do anything, the three of them crash landed with Ruby flopping around into the nearby street. Talon groaned as he lifted himself up off the ground, only to see Ruby slowly getting up with a horn suddenly blaring. Talon was far enough out of the alley to see a truck coming down the street toward Ruby.

"Ruby!" Talon screamed in near fear and worry, when Penny suddenly burst past him and pushed Ruby out of the way, only to take the truck head on and practically not even budge from the impact. 'What is this girl made of?' Was the only thought that ran through Talon's mind. He barely registers Penny asking if the driver was alright. Soon enough a crowd started to form around, whispering about what they just saw. Penny seeming nervous bolted past Ruby, who took off after her with Talon close behind.

"Penny! Please, what is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?" Ruby asked nearly at her wits end.

"I-I can't. Everything's fine. *hic* I don't want to talk about it. *hic*" She said, hiccupping a couple of times.

"Penny, if you tell me what's wrong I can help you." Ruby tried, pleading with her friend.

"You can't expect us to just forget what just happened Penny." Talon said, wanting answers, but trying not to be rude.

"No...no no. You wouldn't understand."

"Let us try. You can trust us."

"You do consider Ruby to be your friend at least…right?" Talon said, trying to appeal to her.

"You…you are my friend…right?" Penny asked, wanting more than anything for answer.

"Yes, of course I am your friend." Ruby said with such conviction. Penny then looked at Talon, with a look that spoke plainly the question on her mind.

"I am suspicious about what's going on…" Talon said, Penny getting a look between fearful and sad. "But…you just saved one of my family with almost nary a thought about yourself." Talon put his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "So if friendship is what you want…I'd be almost glad to give it to you." Penny's eyes lit up at this.

"Thank you…" She took a moment to compose herself. "Ruby…Talon…I'm" Penny lifted up her hands to show that parts of her skin were missing…and instead of blood and muscle, there was metal. "I'm not a real girl." Ruby stared as Talon blinked, and Ruby found the most eloquent thing ever to respond to something like this with.

"Oh…" Talon just stares in shock.

"H…How?"

"Most girls are born…but, I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." Penny explained.

"You're…an android. And…you have aura…but how…I don't…" Talon grasped his head in confusion. Even with spending time in the wilderness for so long he still understood technology to a degree. But this…this was a bit more than he could understand.

"Like I said…I'm not real." Penny soon found her hands being grasped by Ruby's.

"Of course you are. You think just because you have nuts and bolts makes you any less of a person? You're real, just like I am." "Penny blinked a couple times.

"You…are taking this extraordinarily well."

"Well, after Talon's semblance it would take something big to shake me." Ruby said, before realizing her mistake. "Oops."

"His…semblance?"

Meanwhile, Talon was not paying attention as he was lost in his own head. He never thought something like this was possible. There was also the fact that she had an aura, which meant by logic that most people knew that she had a soul. Was it created? Was it stolen from someone else? He really hoped not. He stared at Penny for a moment as if wondering if it was really true. Suddenly his vision warped, the world around them turning grayish but still with color. But what really caught his attention was the orb of greenish light seemingly sitting inside Penny. Talon's eyes widened at this and he blinked multiple times, but there it sat. He looked at Ruby and saw a reddish light sitting inside her too. Both Penny and Ruby looked at Talon and felt a dreading chill down their spines as they saw Talon's red eye was glowing.

"Talon?" Ruby asked, which prompted Talon to snap out of his state, shake his head and after he opened his eyes again, his red eye was back to normal. "What happened? Your eye was glowing."

"I-It was? That's never happened before. I literally just saw these…two colored lights inside the two of you."

"R-Really? Lights…inside us?" Ruby looked down at herself, touching her chest in wonder and worry. "Wait…with your semblance…could those have been…our souls?"

"I…I guess? That makes as more sense than anything else."

"His…semblance?" Penny asked again. Ruby and Talon flinched a bit at that, having forgotten she was there for a moment. Ruby looked at Talon in worry. Talon simply sighed.

"Well, in terms of secrets…mine is worse than yours. Since you told us that, I guess you would deserve to know." Talon slowly lifted his left hand and slowly took off his glove. Penny gasped. "My semblance…is death." Penny starred at the bone hand.

"D-death?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, touching it won't kill you, and I have control over it. I'm not about to kill anyone around me or anything." Penny starred for a moment.

"Your right…yours is worse."

"Hence why I don't think of you any less." He said, putting his glove back on. "I'm just confused more than anything."

"He's right. You saved me. You have a heart." Ruby said, pointing at Penny's chest, which made a metallic sound. "You are a person just like us." Penny looked like she was about to cry, if she could.

"Oh Ruby." Penny wrapped her arms around Ruby tightly. "You are the best friend anyone could have!" Ruby looked like she was being crushed.

"Um Penny?" Penny stopped and looked at Talon who was pointing at Ruby. Penny looked down and saw Ruby looked like she was in some pain. She hence let go.

"Oh my gosh, are you ok?"

"Yeah…you're…really strong aintcha?" Ruby asked, rubbing her arm and shoulder.

"One thing you might want to remember is that, as metal you have less hindrance when using your strength than regular people do. So when interacting physically with people, try to restrain yourself…at least a little bit." Talon said, holding his thumb and index fingers close together. "Like say…down to 75% or more depending on the action." Penny looked at her hands in thought, and then nodded.

"Whew…I guess I can see why your father would be worried about you." Ruby said.

"Oh, my father is very sweet. He's actually the one that built me."

"Wow, he must be very smart to be able to build you all by himself." Talon stated.

"He is, though he did have help from Ironwood."

"Wait…the general? Is that why you were running from those soldiers?" Ruby asked.

"They like to protect me too. They…don't think I'm ready to handle things on my own. One day, it will be my job to save the world." Talon's eyes widened, and then narrowed as he looked off to the side. "But I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and to test myself in the tournament."

"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world? Were in a time of peace." Ruby proclaimed.

"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said." Penny said confused. Suddenly, the voices of the soldiers from earlier were heard nearby saying about checking the area for 'her'. "Oh no, you have to hide." Ruby was about to say something before Talon grabbed her shoulder.

"Right, come on Ruby."

"But-"

"You heard what she said, they are just trying to protect her for her father and the General. She'll be fine."

"Just promise you won't tell anyone about…you know what." Both Ruby and Talon nodded before heading for a nearby alley with a dumpster. Before he turned the corner after Ruby went behind the dumpster, Talon looked back and called to Penny.

"Don't go taking such monumental responsibilities by yourself." Was all he said before joining Ruby. Penny stood there surprised and confused before the soldiers suddenly came up upon her.

"Salutations officers." Penny said, acting as if nothing was wrong.

"Why did you run? And where are the other two?"

"What other two? I've been by myself all day." She said, much to the confusion of the officers, before she hiccupped again. Talon was slightly suspicious of those hiccups.

'She hiccupped a bunch before when she was trying to hide her secret. Does…does she hiccup when she lies?" It wouldn't be that far of a stretch. Something like her would give people immediate distrust towards it, and with someone important like General Ironwood involved, it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to think they would program something like that. Penny continued to talk to the officers who seemed to not know this as they asked her to please come with them, to which she agreed. Both Talon and Ruby got up after they were a good distance away. Ruby looked at Talon in slight confusion.

"By the way, where did you come from earlier?" Talon grimaced slightly.

"I was…actually following you. I saw you and Yang acting antsy all day and, knowing the both of you and with Uncle Tai asking me to keep an eye on you both, followed you guys with my team." Ruby groaned at her dad asking Talon to keep an eye on them, but decided to be truthful.

"Ok yea, we were all going out to gather info about Torchwick and anything else." Talon sighed.

"Should've figured. I kinda forgot that he was still out there for a while. But why are you guys doing anything? Wouldn't it be better to leave it to the people who should be looking for him?"

"Well…Blake was really the one who wanted to. You notice how she seemed to be distracted? She kept thinking about Torchwick and the White Fang and she couldn't leave it alone. We confronted her and she told us and well…we're her team and friends. So we had to help her…and it seemed kinda fun." Ruby said, half muttering the last part. Talon shook his head with a small smile on his face. Just then her scroll came to life, Blake's voice coming through.

"Guys! If you can hear me, we need-" Blake's voice suddenly was cut off with a scream for help that sounded like Sun.

"Big mech. BIG. Chasing us."

"Oh, I'm not missing this." Ruby said, looking at Talon.

"Time to save the day I guess." He said running off with Ruby right behind him.

*elsewhere*

"You were following us!?" Blake exclaimed.

"Well…to be fair, we were more doing so on Talon's suspicion of Ruby's and Yang's behavior. Though it seems like he was correct in his thinking." Yelled Ren as he along with Blake and Sun were running across rooftops with a giant mech on their tail. Their path soon ended though leaving only a bridge as their route. Hopping of the buildings toward the bridge they were forced to use cars as their landing pads. Unfortunately the mech wasn't going to let them get away as, leaving them to have to jump from car to car to keep ahead. Coming up behind the mech was Yang and Neptune on Yang's motorcycle and, surprisingly, Pyrrha and Nora who were using a metal grate as a sort of surf board thanks to Pyrrha's semblance.

"I still don't see how that works." Said Neptune.

"I'm not complaining. Ye-ha!" Shouted Nora.

"We've got to slow it down!" Yang shouted, just before the mech burst through a ton of cars tossing them all over the place. "Evasive maneuvers." She shouted. Cars were tumbling to and fro as Yang and Pyrrha did their best to avoid them. Once they were clear Neptune pulled out his weapon and began firing electrical explosive rounds at the mech with Nora soon joining in. Neptune then changed his weapon to melee form and jumped forward planting it into the back of it. Sun pulled out his weapon and charged to help his team mate, only for the mech to swing around, jostling Neptune's weapon free, and sending Neptune into him causing them both to fall off the edge. Nora fired a few more shots as Weiss radioed in saying she was ready to assist. Weiss landed along the road and prepared her weapon as the mech got closer. Once a good distance, Weiss slammed her weapon into the road covering it in ice, causing the mech to slip and tumble off the edge onto the ground below. Ruby stood waiting and was joined by her team. The mech got up and stood before them ready to destroy them. Suddenly a shout was heard and the mech turned around to see Talon being joined by his team. This gave Ruby enough time to order Weiss and Yang to join their efforts in a move that coated the area in a dense fog. The mech searched around trying to find any of them. The mech was suddenly getting hit by multiple shots and turn to fire in the direction they came from, only to get hit by a grenade in another direction. It turned and saw some movement causing it to fire and nearly hit both Yang and Blake before Ruby suddenly dashed forward to strike it. Weiss and Blake soon came forward and slashed at the mechs feet with Weiss stabbing one of its side guns. The mech retaliated and launch several missiles forcing Blake and Weiss to retreat. In their distraction, it fired both arm guns hitting the both of them. It then fired more missiles, hoping to finish them both off. Before they could hit, Pyrrha suddenly slid in front of them and activated her semblance, taking control of all the missiles. The mech shifted as if in surprise. Pyrrha simply smiled at it and shifted her hand so the missiles turned back toward it and released them. The mech shifted more in surprise and quickly raised its guns to fire and destroy the missiles. Ruby suddenly rushed by hitting one of mechs legs, and was joined by Talon with his scythe at the ready. They rushed forward slicing this way and that, sometimes alternating who went before they halted for a second on either side of the mech. They both rushed forward with Ruby jumping slightly and clutching to her scythe horizontally and Talon ducking down, both of them spinning rapidly in a double buzz saw motion attack. Several cuts were made in the legs, not enough to stop it from using them but enough to cause sparks to occasionally spring forth. The mech tried to hit Ruby, but she had jumped up before the shot could connect. Unfortunately this allowed Talon to prepare a strike against the mech with Ren coming in from behind. Talon spun around and, using his scythes flat edge and with Ren jumping up a little, launched Ren at the mech. Ren spun around with his bladed weapons gaining momentum and with a hearty yell swung both of them one immediately after the other, cleaving off one of mech's arms. The mech took a moment to adjust to the sudden weight loss, giving Yang time to jump onto it and pummel the back of its head. They mech wouldn't let her keep doing so and sped backwards knocking her into a pillar before turning around and shifting its arm into a fist and pummeling Yang into and through said pillar. Yang's hair seemingly started to glow as she got up, with the mech closing in. The mech reared it's fist back and swung again, only to have it's fist stopped as Yang blocked. Yang, using her semblance, reared her fist back and swung hard dismantling the mech's other arm. After a brief moment of shock, the mech kicked Yang sending her flying backwards. Blake threw her weapon back towards Yang who caught it and using her gauntlets blasted herself so she started swinging around back towards the mech. The mech was quick enough to dodge though. Ruby quickly thought and gave Weiss a signal as they both operated together to fire shots from Ruby's scythe that crystalized onto the mech and slowed it down. As Yang circled backwards, Nora stood ready with her hammer and swung as Yang came close, slamming her forward with even more momentum. Yang barreled around and rearing her fist back, slammed hard into the mech obliterating it and revealing it was Torchwick inside. Torchwick flew off to the side and tumble over and over on the ground. Torchwick groaned as he got up, dusting himself off.

"I just had this cleaned…" he said, sounding a little beat up, but still mostly fine. Torchwick then seemed to remember where he was and looked over to see Yang at the ready, and then shooting a blast at him. Torchwick prepared to get hit, only for a short woman to land in front of him and hold out an umbrella of all things and block the blast with it. The woman revealed herself and she had not only mismatched pink and brown eyes but hair too. Torchwick saw her and visibly relaxed.

"Well it's been a pleasure boys and girls…ice queen." An indignant shout from Weiss was heard. "Neo, if you would." The woman gave a bow of a sort. Everyone stood ready before Yang, still in a small burst of anger charged forth and attack, only for both Torchwick and the woman to burst apart with a sound of broken glass. All of them looked confused before a bullhead was heard and then seen flying overhead with both Torchwick and the woman inside.

"Well, he's got a new henchman…woman." Blake said.

"Indeed. That was likely her semblance just now." Ren observed.

"That's definitely going to be problematic to deal with." Pyrrha stated.

"Yea, she really made our plans…fall apart." Weiss said, attempting humor.

"Weiss…no." Yang said.

"But you do it all the time."

"Yea and hers are half of the time bad. You aren't going to sound any better just starting to try." Talon stated bluntly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Several Ways to Dance

"Alright, that may be a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." Ms. Goodwitch stated.

"Tch, woulda thought we had that." Cardin said as he slightly limped off the arena after the match he and his team had against Pyrrha. Talon watched as Cardin and his team left and thought that they had improved a bit. He didn't know how well they were in any standings and certainly didn't see them fight all that often. But from the small 'incident' in Forever Fall, he seemed to think that that had shown Cardin that his team still had a good deal to improve if they wanted to make this a career. He doubted that they would say such if anyone asked, and they certainly wouldn't tell him. None of them had ever talked to him after they passed him by that day they were going to the bullhead. In fact, it seemed the small 'incidents' Cardin and his team caused had stopped.

"Any volunteers?" Goodwitch asked, seeing if anyone wanted to have a sparring match. No one seemed all that eager. The price of following the 'invincible girl' he supposed.

"I'll do it." A male voice sounded. Seems not everyone is fazed by such things.

"Mercury is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent." Goodwitch stated before being interrupted.

"Actually, I wanna fight…her." He said pointing to Pyrrha. Talon's eyes widened a little.

"Me?" Pyrrha seemed equally confused. Goodwitch straight denied his request, saying Pyrrha just fought, but Pyrrha seemed ok with it after a second. Mercury made his way down to the arena, slowly walking up as if sizing Pyrrha up, or in anticipation. Talon took a quick look towards the girl who was sitting with him, a girl with light green hair, and looked back as Mercury made it to his place across from Pyrrha and raised his hands in a battle ready stance. He made no move to bring out a weapon, so he had to have one in some sort of concealed way. Even if he was strong like Yang, it wouldn't make sense to have no weapon. After a few tense moments, Mercury ran forward, and spun a kick toward Pyrrha, only to have it blocked and have his other leg swept out from under him. He rose back to his feet and flipped out of range. Pyrrha relaxed before making her own charge forward. Mercury responded by several kicks both to block and attack. Pyrrha took the chance to dodge his last kick and knock his leg further, causing him to have to spin and show his back to her, which she utilized by ramming her shield into his back. Mercury let out a small grunt, but recovered by rolling and spinning back around to face her. Mercury seemed to get a little annoyed by this, but seemed to respect the move. He responded by starting to flip around in the air, spinning hard kicks that Pyrrha had to block and then dodge. Mercury however wasn't letting up. He kept going at Pyrrha swinging kick after kick. Pyrrha used both her shield and weapon to block all his attacks, even letting her weapon go for a brief moment and using her own arm to block. It finally seemed Mercury had enough of her blocking and kicked her weapon away. Mercury seemed to boost in confidence a little and took another swing at her with his legs, which Pyrrha dodged. Talon could see she used her semblance there for a second, which meant there was metal in his legs. Figures with him using his legs all the time. Once his kick went past, Pyrrha put some distance between them while grabbing her weapon. Mercury however stayed where he was for a moment before getting up again.

"I forfeit." He said, looking at Goodwitch. Pyrrha, who was about to make a charge stopped.

"You…don't even want to try?" Pyrrha asked confused. Talon was as well.

"What's the point? You're a world renowned fighter, were obviously leagues apart." Talon narrowed his eyes at that. What's the point? If there was no point, why did he do so in the first place? Something wasn't right. Especially with the small underlying tone he was using, making him sound condescending to those who actually caught it. Pyrrha didn't look to happy about it either.

"Then Pyrrha Nikos is the victor." Goodwitch said. Out of curiosity, Talon looked toward the girl Mercury was with to see what she thought of it…and saw her grinning. Something was up with these two. He looked back as Goodwitch put in the victor to the system. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Talon, the green haired girl felt someone watching her and looked in his direction. An uneasy feeling crept through her skin as she looked at him. She might have to notify her about this.

*Timeskip*

"And finally, Pyrrha Nikos" Said Emerald, the green haired girl as she sat in the dorm room with Mercury and Cinder Fall. Cinder was knitting together her outfit with dust, while Mercury was laying on the floor reading a magazine as if in boredom.

"Ah, the invincible girl." Cinder said, hardly looking up from her task.

"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible." Mercury commented.

"Do tell."

"Her Semblance is Polarity. But you'd never know just by watching." Emerald started explaining. Mercury got up a little to continue the explanation.

"After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But she only made slight adjustments. Small enough that only someone like me, or those who really pay attention would notice."

"She only does just enough to make it look like she's untouchable. She doesn't broadcast her power, so it puts her opponent at a disadvantage." Emerald finished.

"Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Add her to the list." Cinder stated. Emerald went into her scroll and punched in something, which brought Pyrrha onto the screen.

"You should be able to take her no problem." Mercury boasted.

"It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time." Cinder said calmly. Mercury groaned, falling back onto the floor again.

"I hate waiting."

"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us." She said, nearly finished with her task. Emerald smiled before remembering something. However, she was unsure of whether she should or not. She didn't want to upset Cinder. Regardless, Cinder noticed Emeralds expression of uncertainty.

"Something the matter?" Emerald's head shot up at that.

"W-what?"

"Something seems to be on your mind Emerald. What is it?" Emerald flinched a little. She didn't think there was any annoyance or disappointment in Cinder's voice. But it was hard to not assume it was still there.

"W-well…it might be nothing. But…at the end of Mercury's match, there was this guy." Cinder paused at that, while Mercury looked at her. "I felt like someone was watching me. I looked toward where I thought this person was looking at me from. I never saw his face, but he had black hair with white ends and…" Her hands shook a little, remembering the feeling. "Just looking at this guy…made me feel really uneasy." Both Cinder and Mercury widened their eyes a little.

"Wait…you felt uneasy, just by looking at this guy in the back of the head?" Mercury asked confused.

"Once I noticed him there, it's like his very presence made me feel uneasy. I…I thought it might be worth to tell you." She said looking at Cinder who was in thought.

"Hmm…interesting. Someone whose very presence causes unease. We might have to keep an eye out." She said, intrigued and already wondering if this could work to their advantage.

*Meanwhile*

"Man I could go for a shower." Talon said, as he and Pyrrha came back into their dorm from training. "Nora, you and me next time." He said which got the pink hammer wielder bouncing a little on her bed. Ren was meditating: AKA finding a small bit of inner peace for the day while Nora wasn't being as crazy as she usually is.

"You got it fearless leader! I'll try not to break your legs too hard." She said while grinning somewhat maniacally. They had set up a system of training where each person would train with another on the team, then train with a different person. This was to keep them on their toes and get used to adapting when necessary instead of getting complacent with one fighting style. "So you guys excited for the dance!?" She asked. This stopped both Pyrrha and Talon.

"I…actually kind of forgot about that. Going does sound lovely, but I doubt anyone would ask me to go." Pyrrha said slightly dejectedly, though she took a very small discrete glance at Talon.

"I wasn't really planning on going."

"What!?" Both Pyrrha and Nora shouted. Ren simply opened an eye.

"But why? I'm sure it'll be wonderful." Pyrrha stated. Talon shrugged.

"I'm sure it will, but it's not my thing." He said, settling down onto his bed.

"Aw don't be like that. I'm sure you could get a date and have a grand…time." Nora said before faltering as Talon gave her a piercing stare, before raising his gloved left hand. Nora faltered at that. His teammates and Team RWBY were still the only ones who could stay near him for any length of time. "Well, you could still go with us, as friends." She recovered.

"I could…but I really don't care for all that kind of stuff." It was at this point that Ren opened his other eye seeing something in Talon's face. He noticed Talon seemed…uneasy. As if something about the dance bothered him.

"Talon…you don't know how to dance, do you?" Talon flinched so bad he fell of his bed. Pyrrha and Nora looked at Ren in surprise before looking at Talon.

"W-what!?"

"Well, you were acting a little uneasily. Like you were trying to keep yourself composed. Also, since you've told us you've lived in the wilderness for close to a decade, I doubt you've had time to learn things like dancing." Talon's face faltered at that before his face fell and sighed, sitting up against his bed.

"Ok ok. Yes, I don't know how to dance. Heck, the last time I wore a suit was when my mother died when I was still very young. As such I won't be going, so can we drop it?" Talon said, trying to stop the conversation. But Pyrrha felt kind of sorry that Talon would likely be the only one not going, and came up with a better idea.

"W-why don't I teach you?" She asked slightly nervous. Talon looked at her with wide eyes and blinked a couple times.

"Wait…you…want to teach me how to dance?"

"W-well, you would be the only one who isn't going. Also, wouldn't it be nice to have a night to unwind and have fun?" She reasoned to him. Talon seemed to think about it for a moment and sighed.

"I suppose, though I don't have a suit."

"I can show you where I got mine." Ren piped up, also wanting his leader to have the chance to go.

"Yeah, come on, it'll be fun. We can all go together." Nora said, sliding up to Ren a bit. Talon seemed a bit hesitant, but sighed a little.

"Alright alright, if that's what you want." Nora cheered while Ren and Pyrrha smiled. The next day Ren took Talon to a shop in town to get fitted for a suit. Talon felt very out of place and like he was there just to be looked at like a piece of meat. At least that was after they had slowly worked the employee into actually getting near Talon since his semblance sent them into a bit of a panic state. That evening, instead of training, Pyrrha and Talon went to their training spot and Pyrrha showed Talon the basics of how to dance. They spent a couple of hours practicing this. At the end, Talon wondered if Pyrrha was out of it as her cheeks were slightly pink. She said she was fine and just needed some rest. Then next day came the party.

"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these!?" Talon had to stifle his laughter. He suppose this was the one thing he had to be thankful for in this situation, that he wasn't like Ruby and born a girl. Ruby was like him and that these formal parties were not her thing. But seeing her trying to walk in heels made him feel so much better, and glad he wasn't born a girl so he didn't have to walk in those ridiculous things they called shoes. No offense to girls who liked to wear them of course. Talon stood next to Yang, he and his team having just arrived a couple of minutes ago so he got to watch Ruby drudge her way past the door. Yang did not have as much restraint as he did.

"You wanna have a chat with Weiss about her fashion choices? You go right ahead; I'll be over here not doing that." Talon said, smiling and trying not to chuckle. Ruby grumbled something that sounded like it had the word 'lucky' in it. Soon enough the dance got under way. Talon saw Blake and Yang dancing, Ren and Nora doing some kind of dance together. Talon stuck by the punch for the most part, which Ruby joined him soon after.

"At least the both of us aren't too fond of this kind of thing." He said to her.

"Yeah, stupid lady stilts." Ruby grumbled more.

"How did they get you to wear those anyway?" He knew she would make it difficult if anything. Ruby cried fake tears.

"…my team betrayed meeee." Talon merely snorted in response.

"Not enjoying yourself?" Came a voice, that when they turned revealed it to be Ozpin. Talon focused in on Ozpin for a second with a very serious face before Ruby spoke up.

"Oh! Uh…no, everything's fine. I'm just not much of a…fancy pancy…kind of girl."

"I'm similar. It's nice to be able to experience things like this for once but…it's just…not my thing."

"A good mentality to have Mr. Branwen. Remember Ms. Rose, you can't spend your entire life on the battlefield, even if it is the life for you."

"Yea…that lessons been floating around a lot lately." Ruby said with a sigh.

"Think about it like this. If you look closely enough, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, moving in response to the other. Though, one wrong move on the dance floor merely leads to a swollen toe or foot." Ozpin explained with a chuckle. "Maybe look at it like your cousin; there a few opportunities for things like this, especially among with all your friends together. Time has a way of testing our bonds. But, it is nights like these that can make them stronger than ever. They are the ones we will never forget." Talon just then heard the door open, showing Mercury and the green haired girl walking in. Talon couldn't help but be wary of them.

As the party continued, Ruby and Talon spent a bit more time by the punch bowl before Talon looked off to the side and saw Weiss too hard to keep a flower from wilting too much. Talon sighed and walked over toward her. Weiss almost thought she had the flower staying up before it wilted again and seemed to be getting frustrated.

"I don't think you're going to win this battle." Weiss jolted a little, having been too focused on her self-imposed task, and looked over to find Talon approaching her.

"I'm just trying to-…" Weiss had attempted to keep the flower up again only to fail. She started to get a bit angry.

"Weiss" Weiss stopped and looked at him. "Enough. I don't think one wilted flower is going to ruin the party." Weiss wanted to argue, but remembering her attempts and changing her ways and to not be a perfectionist, sighed.

"I just want all of this to be worth it." She said, having had a part in organizing everything.

"Well, I know one way to make things worth it."

"What?" She asked.

"Want to dance?" Weiss's eyes widened and she stood there for a moment before blinking a couple times.

"Excuse me?" She didn't think Talon would want to dance with her.

"Weiss, the few times I've seen you during all of this you've either been A) been doing things similar to what you were just doing, or B) you have made small talk with certain people. I don't I've seen you actually trying to enjoy the party, just going around as if you have to make sure all the details are still right. This is a party. Parties are meant to be enjoyed. So, would you like to dance?" Weiss was honestly not expecting anyone to ask her to dance, especially after Neptune turned her down. But she supposed Talon had a point. She never really…tried to enjoy parties, on account of the ones she had to attend were more her father's influence and dealings. She knew parties were supposed to be enjoyed, but until now she never had the chance to actually go to an actual party that was for the sake of enjoyment. That and she supposed Talon was at least one of the few people she could enjoy her time with.

"Very well, I accept." She said, grabbing his hand as they headed to the floor. "I'm surprised you know how to dance though."

"Just learned actually, curtesy of Pyrrha. Sorry in advance if I mess up."

"Well, at least I can trust you were taught correctly." They danced for several minutes, and Weiss had to admit that not only did Talon clean up pretty well (she was trying very hard not to shudder at being this close to him, especially when his left eye was not even a foot away from her face), but he danced pretty well. He only stepped on her toes twice. "Thank you for the dance Talon."

"You are welcome. So, is it more enjoyable now?" Weiss seemed to think for a moment.

"Yes…yes I do believe it is. Thank you." She said sincerely. Talon smiled before noticing someone approaching them. Pyrrha walked up slightly tense, though she hid it.

"I see my lessons actually paid off." She said, having watched.

"Yes, you did a splendid job. I was expecting to get a swollen foot." Weiss said.

"I said I was sorry." Talon said, slightly annoyed, though he knew she was mostly joking.

"Well, I suppose that means I might have to give you a refresher then Talon." Pyrrha said, going along with things. Talon smiled, noticing the music slowly starting to kick up as a new song started.

"Well now's your chance. Come on, we gotta get the others together for this one." He said, grabbing Pyrrha's hand, who cried in shock before laughing a little. Talon moved through the crowd, and waved Ren and Nora over when he spotted them. "We gotta have one together before the nights through. Make this night worth it. You lead Pyrrha." They all smiled. Talon was acting a bit…jumpy. Showing a childish side he had only shown once. It was the food fight, laughing along with everyone. Any other time he was serious, unless if involved Yang and Ruby being dorks. They knew why Talon was doing this. For once, Talon had a chance to be a normal person after years of nothing but what was essentially working. No friends, relatives, nothing. The three of them had talked about it after the incident with Roman, how he was nearly constantly trying to do some kind of 'work' in some form or fashion. Had Talon not been right, they would've probably tried to get him to relax in some strange way you would've seen in an anime. Now though, he was starting to enjoy himself and he wanted it to last. So, with Pyrrha in front, they moved to the floor and, as the song started to get going, started dancing together. Numerous people started clapping and whistling. Talon had grabbed Yang and pulled her in to join, and saw Ren pulling in Blake. Talon was having a blast, which he could not believe. He thought the party was going to be a giant waste of time. Suddenly, he halted in his movements when he saw Ruby standing just outside the door to the outside. She was standing there before bolting off. Talon's eyes narrowed before looking around. No one really noticed him stopping, so he decided to go after Ruby to see what was up.

*Timeskip*

Cinder had hoped this would go smoothly. It had for the most part, but there was a slight complication. This girl had arrived to see if something had gone wrong. She had called out, very naively, to see if there was an intruder. She had come out, believing she could be dealt with. She had quicker reactions than Cinder had initially suspected when she attacked, but it seemed she was not accustomed to fighting in heals if the way she was trying to keep her feet firmly on the ground were anything to go by. So, Cinder wisely aimed another ranged attack but aimed downward, which caused her to stumble over on her side. Cinder leapt past her and was about to head to the elevator, when it suddenly dinged. Cinder cursed as it opened, but halted in her movements at what she saw. It seemed as if the entire elevator was dark, with only a vague silhouette of a figure visible. It looked hooded, possible, with a blade protruding at the top like a scythe. The only for sure visible thing was a reddish glow where one of the eyes should be. Cinder prided herself at being confident, poised, and having no fear…especially with who she worked under. But in that moment, she felt a terrible chill crawl up her spine. Her heart lurched, as if she just saw death come to take her. Slowly the figure moved forward, a small metallic clinking could be heard, till it was revealed to be Talon who was holding his scythe behind him with one of his arms. Talon had ran after Ruby and, after hearing and seeing one of the schools rocket lockers roaring over his head, figured Ruby had found something wrong. He called his locker soon after and followed to the CCT tower. Finding the unconscious guard had also told him something was very wrong. Now he had arrived to find a woman in an almost cliché thief outfit and Ruby on the floor. He glared at her in anger, and saw her flinch. Good. One of the few times he was glad to have a semblance like his. He brought his scythe out from behind his back and twirled it before swinging it down. He jumped toward her, glare still trained on her.

Cinder was trying very hard to keep her cool. She was not afraid, she couldn't be afraid. In the small moments where the fight began, she recalled Emerald mentioning a guy who made her feel uneasy just by being near him, but this was nothing like she expected. The more she starred at him, the harder it was to ignore this feeling. She tried not to stare at that red seemingly glowing eye, which helped, but she had little time left. Talon swung wide, which she flipped over and seemingly spawned in a bow and 3 arrows out of nowhere. The arrows flew, but Talon spun his scythe destroying them. She next spawned a pair of blades and charged. Talon swung his scythe to defend and attack in tandem with her movements, while she did the same. Trying to end it, she took a quick charge to stab him with both blades. Talon moved to the side and swung his scythe in a circular motion so when it came back up it hit her hands, forcing her to let go of the blades. He then turned his scythe and hooked it with his arms around her head and brought it down while raising his knee, making impact and disorienting her with a pained grunt. He released her head and kicked her away, causing her to fall against one of the consoles, which she held herself up against. The elevator dinged again, which caught Talons attention, opening to reveal General Ironwood from Atlas. Talon looked back toward the woman, only to find her gone. He gritted his teeth, annoyed with himself for losing focus.

*Meanwhile*

Mercury and Emerald were 'dancing' when a hand tapped Emeralds shoulder.

"Mind if I butt in?"

"Not at all." Emerald said, walking away. Mercury and Cinder then started to 'dance'.

"So, how has your evening been going?" Cinder's eyes narrowed as a dull pain echoed in her head.

"Good…with a slight headache." Mercury frowned a little.

"Something to be concerned about?"

"I don't know…yet. But I managed to get my work done. So for now, let's enjoy the evening. After all…it's a party."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Trouble Brewing

A ding was heard as Talon reached the top of the elevator of Beacon Tower. The elevator opened up to the Headmaster's office. A big spacious room, with see through floor and visible gears clunking away. Most of the walls were windows giving clear view to all directions. On the opposite end of the room sat the Headmasters desk, with Professor Ozpin sitting calmly with Professor Goodwitch standing next to him. Standing on the other side of Ozpin was General Ironwood, who Talon saw the previous night. Talon locked eyes with Ozpin and, for a moment, a memory of a voice he had not heard for years echoed in his mind.

…_Ozpin…_

…_War…_

…_Mission…_

"Thank you for coming Mr. Branwen." Ozpin stated as Talon slowly made his way to the three of them. Talon nodded, stopping a few feet away from them. "How are you feeling?"

"Annoyed." Both Ozpin and Ironwood seemed to twitch their faces at that response. Talon looked toward Ironwood. "Hello…Jimmy." Ironwood slowly sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, had to at least once."

"You're his son alright." Ozpin was trying not to smile too much from this. Goodwitch simply shook her head. "Moving along, I can say he would be proud of you. You and Miss Rose showed exactly the kinds of qualities that Huntsman and Huntresses need to have. You took action, and you did the best you could." Talon nodded. He needed to do better…

"Now, the General told us what…transpired last night. Now that you are rested we were hoping you could tell us anything else." Ozpin stated.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Asked Goodwitch.

"No, it was just her and Ruby up there when I got there. And as far as I can tell I've never seen her in my life." Talon replied. "The only things I could say were that she had a mask on, and that…she seemed to have the ability to…summon weapons I guess? Her clothes seemed to glow when she did though…" Talon trailed off.

"That sounds like dust infusion." Goodwitch muttered.

"Which means it could be anyone." Ozpin finished. "Was there anything else?" Talon shook his head. "Very well, you are free to go Mr. Branwen. Please send up Miss Rose when you get off." Talon nodded and headed for the elevator. Once he got to the bottom he found Ruby standing against the wall, fidgeting.

"You ok Little Red?" Ruby looked at him and sighed.

"Not really. I know I'm not in trouble but…well." Talon nodded. No matter what it was, they were still being told to go to the Headmasters office, which made it feel like they were. Add that onto the events of last night and things didn't feel right.

"I know, but you gotta stay strong. They're waiting for you." Ruby took a deep breath and nodded, heading onto the elevator. After she departed, Talon headed back to the dorms. He found his team and Ruby's together in Team RWBY's room. Pyrrha asked him how it went, which he told them what transpired. They waited for Ruby, who showed up 20 mins later. She also divulged what happened in her conversation with the Headmaster had gone, including her…'slip of the tongue'.

"That was risky." Weiss stated.

"Actually, I think you handled it well." Blake commented.

"Yea, I'm sure everything will be alright." Yang said, trying to comfort Ruby.

"Be glad that you were there at all, and that you made it out ok." Ren added.

"I guess." Ruby said, not all that convinced.

"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up." Yang said, as she went to the desk near her and grabbed a thin tube. "I got a package from dad to the both of us." Ruby immediately perked up.

"Oh!~ Something from home!" Ruby zipped over to Yang, grappled onto her and tried to grab the package from her hands. Everyone just starred at the scene before Yang simply dumped whatever it was onto the floor. The object in question shifted on its own, bumping around on the floor before poofing out to reveal…a dog.

"Zwei!" came the exclamation from 3 people as Weiss seemed to lift a leg in shock, Blake jumped up into the air like a cat in fear, Ren simply stood in surprise as Nora nearly squealed in delight at the dog. Ruby quickly scooped up the dog and hugged it as it started licking her face.

"He sent a dog!?" asked Blake…for obvious reasons.

"In the mail!?" asked Weiss…again for obvious reasons.

"Oh he does this kind of stuff all the time." Yang assured.

"Your dad or your dog?" Blake asked, now on the bed hanging up from the ceiling.

"Both actually." Stated Talon. "Hey Zwei, long time no see." He said looking at Zwei in Ruby's arms. Zwei looked at him and perked up a little. He squirmed out of Ruby's arms and went toward Talon. Once he was about a foot away, Zwei stopped. He cautiously shifted himself towards Talon's right side and then hopped up so his front paws were on Talon's leg. Everyone but Yang and Ruby were shocked by this as Talon bent down and scratched Zwei's head.

"Wait, did he just…?" Ren began to ask. Talon nodded.

"Zwei is pretty damn smart for a dog. He even has his aura unlocked." Talon stood up, Zwei looked around and saw Blake and ran over to the bed on the floor. Blake grew tense at this as if she was about to bolt from the hanging bed. "They first got him after I left to start living in the wilderness, and the first time or two he couldn't stand to be around me. But with a little coaching and showing him that I meant no harm, and that the bad feeling around me mostly is centered on my left hand, he began to treat me like the rest of the family."

"I know some dogs are really smart, but is he really that smart?" Talon simply smiled and looked toward the scene of Zwei and Blake.

"Zwei." Zwei stopped and looked toward Talon. "Please stop scaring Blake." Zwei seemed to tilt his head a little. Talon pointed toward Blake. "Blake is a cat faunus, and cats _usually_ aren't fond of dogs." Zwei blinked and looked back to Blake who was still in a 'combat ready' like position. After a moment, Zwei hopped down and walked away toward Yang. He sat down and barked toward Blake. Everyone, but the three family members, looked at Zwei with open mouths.

"But…He…How…I…I don't understand." Weiss stood there flabbergasted.

"Like he said, Zwei is really smart." Ruby said, petting Zwei.

"Yeah, we even taught him how to use a can opener." Yang stated proudly.

"I still wish I could've seen how you did that." Talon remarked.

"Hold on…Your dad sent your dog to us. Are you going to tell me that this mangy…drooling…mutt…is going to wiv with us foreva oh yes he is" Weiss proceeded to coo at Zwei and pet him with everyone else just starring at her, while Blake slowly got down from the hanging bed. Weiss noticed and immediately crossed her arms in a huff, with a small blush spreading on her pale face. "My father wouldn't let me have pets."

"Your father sounds like an ass." Talon replied. There was a shout of 'Swear!' from Ruby as Yang dug into the tube to see if there was something about why Zwei was there.

"Hey there's a note."

"Would all first year students please report to the amphitheater."

"Wait, were gonna be gone for a week, we can't leave him here." Weiss said, realizing the time frame they were in.

"Well the note says: "Dear girls…and Talon since I've been informed you're there. I've got to leave the island for a few days so I'm sending you Zwei to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both and congratulations Talon, Taiyang." Yang tipped over the tube and a ginormous amount of canned dog food landed on top of Zwei, who poked his head out of the pile like it didn't happen.

"What's he supposed to do with that?" Yang shook the tube and a can opener fell onto Zwei's head.

"Well that settles that. Come on girls, Zwei will be here when we get back." Yang said walking off.

"You seriously weren't kidding when you said he could use a can opener I guess." Pyrrha said. She didn't want to assume Yang would abandon their family dog without worry when he couldn't take care of himself. Everyone started to file out, with Blake giving Zwei a bit of a berth and a quiet 'thank you', until it was just Ruby, Talon, and Nora. Nora proceeded to coo and give attention to Zwei.

"Well, we gotta get going, come on." He said to Nora until he looked at Ruby who was looking at Zwei with a small kind of grin. "Oh no."

"What?" Nora said, looking toward him, and then looking to where he was looking. Ruby simply gave a mischievous grin. Nora grinned as well. "Do it."

"Don't encourage her."

*Timeskip*

"You're going on world saving missions without us!? I'm hurt, sad, maybe a little hungry…that last ones not your fault though. Ren…" Nora said as Team PLTN walked up to Team RWBY who was waiting for their huntsman to show up. She looked at Ren with some anger. Ren simply turned and crossed his arms.

"You need to eat more than just pancakes Nora." Talon stated.

"Blasphemy!"

"Keep it up and I'll use my authority as leader and order him to never make you pancakes again." Nora gasped.

"You wouldn't." Talon simply smiled at her. Nora crossed her arms and grumbled.

"So you're going somewhere in regards to…that?" Pyrrha asked discreetly.

"Yes, somewhere outside the kingdom."

"Hey, we're going outside the village too." Nora perked up a little.

"Ren and Nora suggested a mission where we shadow a sheriff of a nearby village." Talon explained.

"We set out tomorrow." Ren stated.

"If that's the case." Came the voice of Sun.

"Then you can party with us tonight." Finished Neptune who was with him. "We're shadowing crime specialists. We even get junior badges." Talon smirked slightly while raising an eyebrow. Sun shrugged.

"We thought that since every time we go with you guys to the city, things happen…and usually explode. So we figured what better way to see things when their normal."

"Well-" Ruby began before being interrupted.

"Good day ladies!" Came the quick voice of Pro- ahem, Doctor Oobleck. Everyone spun to see Doctor Oobleck standing there in a hiking/wilderness getup. "I shall be the Huntsman you will be tailing on this adventure!" Team RWBY seemed to be in stunned state not believing what they were seeing and hearing.

"Well, looks like you guys are in for a ride. We'll leave you to it. Good luck" Talon said with a smile as the rest of his team and Sun and Neptune started to leave. Team RWBY looked at them all in desperation, agony, and betrayal.

*Timeskip*

"I'm sure they're fine." Pyrrha said to Talon, who had a concerned look. Team RWBY had left the previous day, and he and his team had relaxed a little for the rest of the day. That night though, Talon had been sleeping when he got woken up by his scroll going off. He picked it up to find that Ruby was calling him. Talon was confused on why she was calling him, but thought maybe she was calling to check in or to let him know how things were going. When he answered though all he got was static and/or mechanical like noises. Talon immediately grew concerned. He knew they could handle themselves, but they had no idea what was waiting for them. Talon didn't sleep the rest of the night. It was now early in the morning and he and his team were heading toward a bullhead.

"I know…I just can't help but worry. There aren't many reasons why I would get called and not be able to get through."

"Probably a butt dial." Stated Nora.

"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally for first years. We should be focusing on our own mission." Ren said.

"I just have a bad feeling…" Suddenly a noise echoed over the horizon, as all four of them looked toward the city where a plume of smoke could be seen rising over an area. A couple moments later a siren echoed behind them. Talon sighed. "I hate when I'm right. C'mon, new mission. We'll have to visit that village another time." He said as he ran toward the bullhead, his teammates slowly following him. Talon informed the pilot to head to the city and they took off. As the bullhead slowly got closer, they started to see little black figures in the area.

"Grimm? But how?" Ren asked in confusion

"We'll have to figure that out later. We have a job to do." Pyrrha stated.

"Right. Looks like we got a big one. Would you like to announce our arrival Pinky?" Nora grinned and hopped off the bullhead pulling out Magnhild. She twirled around and fired her weapon while riding on it, sailing toward a big snake Grimm. Nora pulled her hammer back and gave the grim a hard hit to the head, sending it reeling a bit before falling down. Nora slid back as the rest of Team PLTN landed by her. "Alright, let's go." Talon said as each member sped off. Talon found himself up against an Ursa that roared at him in rage. Talon wasn't fazed. The Ursa raised its paw and swung down at Talon, who quickly dodged to the side so he was on the side of the Grimm and swung his scythe down over the Grimm's shoulder and pulled hard, cutting the Grimm's arm completely off before swinging around to cut open the Grimm's side. The Ursa fell over dead, just as it seem more fighters entered the scene. Talon saw over on the other side of the open area what looked like Mercury and that green haired girl that was with him fighting some Grimm as well. Then just overhead, another a couple more bullheads flew overhead dropping down what seemed to be robots that started shooting at the Grimm wildly, as well as another team of Huntsman that began attacking as well. Talon also saw that one of them was that rabbit faunus he had 'rescued' from Cardin all those weeks ago. The fighting continued and the numbers of Grimm began to die down before Goodwitch suddenly began marching with what seemed to be fury toward the hole and using her semblance to plug it back up. Talon would never know how she did that so precisely. Afterwards, everyone was standing together coming to terms with what occurred. "I'm really starting to think it's impossible for you two to not cause trouble or get involved in it."

"Hey, it's not our fault!" Yang protested.

"Yeah! We were doing fine…till I fell in a hole and got caught." Ruby agreed, mellowing out at the end due to embarrassment.

"Oh I can't believe that you caught me. You've really taught me the error of my ways." Torchwick said, very unconvincingly. Talon heard it and narrowed his eyes at his tone. He was suddenly distracted as he saw in some people coming towards him. He saw the rabbit faunus as well as he team coming toward him and his team.

"So…You're Talon right?" The girl with a beret and purse said.

"Yeah, and you are…?"

"I'm Coco, a second year. This is Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet, who I believe has something to say." She said, pushing the rabbit faunus girl forward a bit. The girl was really nervous and looked at him briefly before looking away again with a small shiver. Talon sighed and closed his left eye.

"Does this help?" the faunus girl looked at him and blinked in some surprise.

"Um…y-yes actually." She looked down in nervousness and shame. "T-thank you…for what you did back t-then."

"No problem. Sorry that I make you really uncomfortable. I know faunus are more sensitive to my semblance than humans." He replied.

"N-no it's fine. I know you likely…can't help it."

"What is your semblance anyway? Fear or something? It's all anyone talks about when you come up." Coco asked. Talon looked away a bit. His team looked at him with some small amount of pity.

"I'd…rather not say. It's better to just not know." The entire team looked at him in confusion and some small amount of suspicion.

"Well if you're sure. But since you helped out our little Velvet" Velvet let out a small cry of indignation at that. "If you'd like to talk or hang with us, you are more than welcome." Coco stated. Talon blinked at this.

"Really?"

"Really really. And maybe then we can get you a better outfit than that gloomy getup." All of team PLTN went wide eyed at that.

"Coco! Do you always have to do this!?" Velvet proclaimed

"What? Look at his outfit. It just exudes an aura of dark and gloomy. I can hardly look at it without feeling like he lives his life without seeing the sun!" This continued for a while and Talon wasn't sure what to make of it. He looked at the Fox and Yatsuhashi with a raised eyebrow as if to ask if this was normal. They seemed to sigh a little and nod. Talon felt sorry for them.

*Timeskip*

Talon was on his way back to his dorm. He was going straight to bed and sleep in, if he could. On the way to his dorm he saw a potted plant sitting there in the hall. He stopped and seemed to think for a moment before looking around to make sure no one was around. He went up close to it and pulled off the glove from his left hand. He lifted it up to the plant, but so it was several inches away. He concentrated on the plant, as his semblance flared up, covering his skeletal hand in a black glow. Several seconds pass with nothing seemingly happening. He concentrated harder, a small slick of sweat running down the side of his face. Suddenly, if anyone had been watching, very small tendrils seem to come off one of the leaves. The tendrils slowly seem to make their way toward Talons hand before Talon couldn't hold it any longer. He exhaled and started panting as the glow left his hand. The tendrils disappeared and the leaf they came from shriveled up at its end. Talon stood there for a moment, catching his breath.

"Dammit. I've barely gotten anywhere." He said, before taking out a small measuring tape. He placed the end on the middle finger of his left hand, and rolled the tape down to where his flesh stopped. He looked at the measurement. "One centimeter…Damn." He put the tape away, and continued towards his dorm to head to bed, frustrated.

*End of RWBY volume 2*

End Song: A Storm is Comin by Tommee Profitt Feat. Liv Ash

(Singing – Cinder Fall. Piano – Emerald Sustraii. Percussion – Mercury Black. )

Something waits within the shadows

Like an army in the night

Lock the doors and board the windows

Oh, oh

A storm is comin'

That you can't escape

Tears are fallin'

Like blood and rain

Thunder's shaking

And it's gonna break

A storm is comin'

That you can't escape

Tears are falling' from the darkness

Feel them crash upon your skin

Look for shelter, you won't find it

No, no

A storm is comin'

That you can't escape

Tears are fallin'

Like blood and rain

Thunder's shaking

And it's gonna break

A storm is comin'

That you can't escape, no

Ooohhh, a storm is comin'

Ooohhh, a storm is comin'

Ooohhh, a storm is comin'

Ooohhh, a storm is comin'


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Keeping An Eye On Things

There it sat, just as it has for years. Talon stood there with Ruby at the edge of a cliff, starring at a hunk of stone with a name on it: Summer Rose. Talon hadn't been here in years, and while he knew it wasn't his fault, he still felt guilty. The last time was on his second visit after unlocking his semblance. The first time he visited with his dad, the both of them had come and explained what happened and why he wouldn't be around. The second was mostly to show he was still alive. Since then though, he just never got around to doing so. He figured now that he was here with them, since he had joined Ruby and Yang in heading to Patch while they were away from Beacon, he figured he ought to come by and say hello.

"Hey mom" Ruby said next to him. "Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been…well, things have been pretty busy. Oh, dads here too. He's…well dad. Oh! And Talon! He came back to us!" Ruby said excitedly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Little Red." Talon said, which prompted ruby to glare at him while puffing her cheeks. Talon just chuckled. "Hey Aunt Rose." He said looking at the stone. "Sorry for not coming by in several years but…well you know." He said raising his gloved left hand.

"Yeah, he actually joined us at Beacon and is on the sister team to me and Yang's. It would've been nice for all of us to be on the same team, but I'm not complaining."

"No, you just make a comment about it every now and then."

"Because it's true!" Talon just smiled and shook his head. "Besides, it'd help to further keep Yang in line." Then he chuckled.

"Trust me Little Red, at this point in her life, no one but you and Uncle Tai can keep her in line." Talon stated. "Weiss tries but Yang finds it fun to annoy her, and Blake doesn't even try."

"Yeah. Oh those are my other teammates by the way. Together we form Team RWBY, which yes, causes a bit of confusion."

"My teammates are Pyrrha Nikos, a four time champion and all around badass fighter. She took an entire team on by herself…though they are on the lower end of our year. Nora Valkyrie, she's…well imagine Ruby on coffee and you get the idea." There was an exclamation of 'Hey!' at that. "She's great though, always keeping things lively. Lastly Lie Ren, a calm and collected guy, who is the only one who can keep Nora in line since they've friends since children. We make Team PLTN."

"Yeah, we've had some fun times. Oh, and we've even stopped bad guys. Guess it's true what they say, the apple doesn't fall far." Ruby said, before looking at Talon with a smile

"No it doesn't, it just might hit its head when it lands." He said ruffling her hair, much to her protest. She glared at him but then returned her attention to the stone, starring at it for a moment.

"I miss you too." She said, trying not to tear up. Suddenly there was a noise and a bark behind them. They looked back to see a blonde man and Zwei standing behind them. "Oh there's dad and Zwei, I gotta go. He's dropping us off at Beacon before the tournament matches, wish us luck."

"We'll come back. We promise." Talon declared.

*Time Skip*

"We did iiiiiiiisss anyone else starving?" Ruby said, morphing two sentences into one, celebrating her team's first victory in the tournament and coming to the realization she was almost starving.

"That's what happens when you use up a lot of energy, particularly with your semblance." Talon said as he and his team had come and congratulated Ruby and her team. There was suddenly quite a loud growling noise, which caused Blake to hold her stomach with a bit of a blush.

"I…may have worked up an appetite."

"Wow, that's what I'd expect from my stomach." Nora said with no tact.

"Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus we could get food." Weiss said, lazily indicating around them to numerous stalls that had cropped up for festival activities.

"C'mon, we can get something before our match starts." Talon said as they started heading off to find a stall to eat at, none of them noticing Weiss stop for a brief moment to look at her scroll before looking away in annoyance. They soon were stopped though by a female voice piping up.

"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this." Said voice belonging to the green haired girl Talon saw that one day at combat class who was holding out a small lien pouch. Ruby, who was more near to her, started checking her pockets seeing that it looked like hers. The girl laughed a bit as Ruby started to panic a little.

"Thanks Emerald." Ruby said as she retrieved her lien pouch. So Emerald was her name. "Guess I dropped it."

"What's up Em?" Yang said walking up.

"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight. You guys were awesome." Emerald said, causing Ruby to blush.

"I heard your team progressed as well." Blake and Weiss came up as well with Team PLTN behind them.

"I seriously feel like we never see the rest of your team." Weiss said, which caused Talon to think of that as well. He had seen Emerald and Mercury a few different times off in the distance, but he never really saw the other two at any point. It was kind of weird now that he thought about it. Talon refocused on the conversation as Ruby was talking.

"Why don't we eat together?" Emerald seemed shocked by this.

"Oh gosh, that's so nice of you, but…my teammates are all kind of…introverted." She says looking back at Mercury who is holding a leather boot from a stall and sniffing it. Talon raised an eyebrow at that. Just…why? "Really socially awkward." She whispered. Yang agreed with her. "So, looks like Merc and I were picked to be the ones to move on to the next round. What about you guys?" She asked

"Well as leader of this team I thought long and hard about it." Ruby said, trying to act important

"We put it to a vote." Weiss corrected

"As such we decided Weiss and Yang." Blake finished

"I will be happy to represent Team RWBY." Weiss said in a noblistic kind of way. This was a stark contrast from Yang who simply said they were gonna 'kick some butt'.

"Well, if you meet Merc and me don't think we'll go easy on ya."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Yang said, always the competitive one. Afterwards they said their goodbyes and rejoined Team PLTN on their way to get some food. Emerald rejoined Mercury as they started walking with Emerald dropping her smiley disposition.

"So how are the new 'friends'?" Mercury asked.

"I hate them. How can they be so…happy all the time?" Emerald replied in frustration.

"Orders are orders. Also, I see what you mean about that one guy. I saw him looking at me at one point. Holy shit did it take me so much will power to not act like I notice and flinch." He said running his hands down his face. "What is up with that dudes semblance?"

"I don't know." Emerald replied shuddering. "I kept trying not to focus on it, which helped a little but only to a degree."

"Well, did you get what we needed?"

"It's the heiress and the bimbo."

"Well, at least we know who we're dealing with."

"What about you?" Mercury smirked at that and lifted up his scroll, showing a picture of Talon. Emerald smirked at that as well.

With the others, they soon found a small food stand with an older man manning it. Each of them ordered something, which ended up being mostly the same thing: noodles. Weiss attempted to pay for it all, only to find out that her card didn't work.

"What!? How can that be? I haven't even gotten close to over using my allowance." She asked in confusion.

"Could something have happened to prevent the card from working?" Ren asked. Weiss stopped for a moment before becoming angry.

"My father must have cut me off. This is just another tactic of his." She said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Well, why don't I just pay for it then? I have plenty from all the things I've done." Pyrrha said, pulling out one of her cards.

"Aww you don't have to." Yang said, with Blake saying she could, desperately wanting her fish back.

"If she didn't I would've. I've got quite a good stockpile of lien from over the years." Talon stated. Having little else to spend on besides absolute necessities and doing small odd jobs from nearby towns had earned him a small lien cow. Not that he would ever flaunt it, nor did it make him really rich. They soon ate and found themselves a bit stuffed with how much there was. They seemed to be taking it easy, until an announcement came over the loud speakers asking Team PLTN to head to the arena soon unless they wanted to be disqualified.

"What? Why would we be disqualified? I thought we still had a bit of time." Pyrrha asked confused.

"Doesn't matter. Get in gear guys." Talon said, running toward the arena. The others soon followed behind. They arrived with about 4 minutes to spare. After a short announcement as they slowly made their way onto the field, informing them that their opponents were Team BRNZ of Shade Academy, they got into battle positions waiting with Talon putting and eye patch on so no one would see his eye. Displays popped up as the randomized selection of terrain began before one popped up. The area around them shifted and changed with a rocky formation popping up behind them like a miniature mountain and grassy area with trees behind Team BRNZ. The countdown slowly began as Talon took note of the weapons the opponents had, most notably a sniper girl.

'Well that'll be a problem.' He thought as the match began. Sure enough, the girl immediately ran backwards with her teammates running forward. 'Well, two can play at that game.' He thought as he moved backwards with his teammates moving forwards. Pyrrha was the first to make contact as one combatant kneed her shield. Pyrrha tried to swing her blade at him only for him to lock his bladed gauntlets with hers. As the sniper girl got into position, Ren and Nora seemed ready to confront another opponent who ducked under Nora's swing before trying to hit her with what looked like a baton. Talon got behind the rocks that were behind them earlier, transforming his scythe into its rifle/railgun mode. The sniper girl took aim as Ren was about to head into the fray, shooting the rocks behind him causing them to blast apart. Talon noticed where it came from and smirked. He aimed and shot, the streak of the bullet and static catching everyone's attention as it hit the branch right next to the girl. She freaked for a second before looking at Talon who smiled and waved. "Best not to stand around guys. Keep moving!" He shouted, getting his team in gear. Unfortunately this also got the other team moving too. Two of the guys ran forward while the baton guy hooked around to try and get to Talon. Ren noticed this and quickly ran back, sliding into position to block him. Talon took some shots between the two other guys as they fought Pyrrha and Nora. The sniper girl occasionally did the same to Nora and Pyrrha while occasionally taking shots at Talon, which was bothersome as it was slightly destroying the rocks he was using for cover. Baton guy stopped and looked over his shoulder and nodded before slowly walking forward. Ren prepared himself before shots rang next to him, forcing him to dodge. Unfortunately this allowed baton guy to close the distance and give a good hit to the head. Ren used his momentum to swing around for a kick, which baton guy dodged. Ren tried a couple more times to get hits but baton guy seemed good at dodging and instead slammed his baton straight into Ren's guy which activated suddenly sending a hearty dose of electricity through Ren. Nora saw this and shouted out to Ren, who collapsed in some pain. Instantly becoming angry, she ran toward baton guy who dodged her a couple times before doing the same to her. Unfortunately for him this proved the wrong thing to do, which was soon explained by the announcers that Nora can channel electricity and make herself stronger from it. Poor boy never knew what hit him as Nora slammed her hammer into him…hard and sending him straight into some rocky debris. Talon would've felt sorry for him, at least if he was injured quite a bit from that. But he likely wasn't so he would save that for later. Talon heard a noise behind him and saw some ominous like clouds forming at the top of the miniature mountain. He knew what it meant, and knew it was what they needed. He hopped out of the cover, switching his weapon back to a scythe, and ran up to the others. "Nora, get up the mountain and wait for my signal."

"You got it!" She said saluting. Ren was slowly getting up, only to see a bullet hit right next to him which hastened him. Pyrrha got up to him and blocked the incoming shots as the two guys from before started toward the three of them.

"Ren, you're the quickest of us. Get to that sniper and force her this way. Pyrrha, you and me are gonna keep the other three occupied." He relayed to them just before another shot rang out from hitting the ground. Ren sighed, but knew Talon was right in that he was the most agile, if only slightly more than Pyrrha. Pyrrha went and rejoined the fray as one of the bladed dudes came up and launched what looked like buzz saws at her, forcing her to block with her shield. The buzz saws bounced off and flew right back to the guy, hooking back into place as he twirled around smacking into her shield more. Talon meanwhile went and met the other bladed opponent. His opponent threw a few strikes that Talon dodged, before Talon blocked a strike with the handle of his scythe with the handle in-between the blades. His opponent tried to swing his other arm at him, but Talon simply twirled his weapon so it hit the handle again, now having both arms against the handle. His opponent glared for a moment, before Talon smirked and twirled his weapon quickly, making his opponent spin with it and lose balance. Ren meanwhile was dashing forward, moving quickly to avoid any possible sniper shots. He saw off to his side the baton guy was coming in from the side to cut him off. He turned his weapons on him and fired, forcing him to stagger and fall behind. The girl began to panic as Ren drew close and jumped, slashing upward with his blades, knocking her out of the tree as she blocked. The girl turned her weapon around and used it as a bat, swinging at Ren as he drew close, only for him to dodge by jumping behind her. Ren began to slash at her, making her slowly retreat backwards, blocking as best she could. Though being a sniper really didn't allow her much in terms of physical strength. Ren finished with a hearty kick, sending her backwards onto the ground. The girl was smart and used the chance of some distance to get up and start running away, with Ren soon giving chase. Soon afterward though, baton guy came back, skidding in between Ren and the girl. Ren once again pulled his weapons up and began firing, mostly at the guy's feet. Once again baton guy couldn't do much so he had to follow behind his teammate, with Ren giving chase. Soon the sniper girl was back near the center of the arena, with her teammate close behind her. Their other teammates notice this as well. They look to see that Talon, Pyrrha, and Ren all are closing in on them and stand ready to fight and protect their teammate and sniper, who cautiously stands ready with her weapon, pointing between all three of them. Baton guy looks at the situation, seeing them being slightly closed in before noticing something.

"Hey, where's that one pink girl?" He looked at Ren, who simply smiled and pointed upward behind him. Baton guy looked and saw Nora, who was now at the top of the mountain, raising her hammer and getting struck by lightning. "Oh no…" Nora smiled and switch her weapon to its grenade launcher form with it opening up to show several grenades ready to fire. "Oh Cra-"

"Fire!" He was cut off by Talon shouting. Nora pulled the trigger and all the grenades launched together. All four of their opponents eyes widened in near horror as the grenades closed in, and they tried in vain to run as the grenades were already pretty close by the time the trigger was pulled. A giant explosion rocked the ground of the arena, smoke billowing as the entire center was ruined. Once the smoke cleared, it was shown that baton guy and the one with the buzz saws was standing, but with some smudges and a bruise or two, while sniper girl and the other guy were both laying or kneeling on the ground. The screen up above showed that each one of their auras were below 50 percent. Meanwhile, Talon and his team's auras were all at 75 percent or higher.

"Oh, looks like Team BRNZ is just about down for the count. Will they continue forward?" Proclaimed Professor Port as the announcer. Baton guy looked at Team PLTN, then looked at his team and shook his head muttering a 'sorry' to his team before raising his hand up. "Nope, it looks like they've had enough. Team PLTN wins the match!" Talon walked up toward baton guy.

"You guys did alright out there." He said, holding out his hand. Baton guy looked at him surprised before smiling a little.

"If we did alright, you guys were outstanding."

"Really the only thing you guys need besides training is maybe not have your sniper unable to defend herself once in close range." He said looking at the female of the group, who kind of hanged her head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, we've kind of been thinking about that before now, but she's been…hesitant." Talon slowly nodded at that. He wouldn't question it, it wasn't his place.

"Well, I'm sure you guys will get there eventually." All four of them looked at each other and nodded, an unspoken promise to do better.

*Elsewhere*

A man was sitting on a stool in a bar, having his second drink of the day. Nearby was a TV showing an image of Team PLTN as they stood together, proud of their victory. The bartender stood behind the counter watching the screen.

"Huh, those kids are kinda good." The bartender said. The man on the stool was looking at the screen, and then looked away trying to keep a smirk down as he tried not to let an emotion from within bubble up to the surface.

"I guess so."

"What? Not good enough for you?" The bartender asked in a joking manner.

"I've seen tougher fights, and those other kids weren't exactly on even ground with them to start with…no offense to them."

"I guess that's true." The bartender agreed. After a while, another match and a few more drinks, the man stood up after noticing an airship fly by. "Had enough?"

"Yea…The fight I'm here for is just about to start. Don't want to be late for the prime view." He said, tossing a couple of lien cards down. "Happy Vytal Festival." He said with a slight hiccup. He needed to get himself in gear, cooled off, and ready. He was gonna need to have a talk with some people…and another talk with someone else.

Vol. 3 opening: Stand My Ground by Within Temptation

(Vocals – Pyrrha Nikos, Guitar – Talon Branwen, Bass – Lie Ren, Drums – Nora Valkyrie, Keyboard – Penny Polendina)

I can see

When you stay low

Nothing happens

Does it feel right?

Late at night

Things I thought I'd put behind me

Haunt my mind

I just know there's no escape now

Once it sets its eyes on you

But I won't run

Have to stare it in the eyes

Stand my ground

I won't give in

No more denying

I've gotta face it

Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

If I don't make it, someone else will

Stand my ground

It's all around

Getting stronger, coming closer into my world

I can feel that it's time for me to face it

Can I take it?

Though this might just be the ending

Of the life I held so dear

But I won't run

There's no turning back from here

Stand my ground

I won't give in

No more denying

I've gotta face it

Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

If I don't make it, someone else will

Stand my ground

All I know for sure is that I'm trying

I will always stand my ground

Stand my ground

I won't give in, (I won't give in)

I won't give up, (I won't give up)

No more denying (ah)

I've gotta face it

Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

If I don't make it, someone else will

Stand my ground

I won't give in

No more denying

I've gotta face it

Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

If I don't make it, someone else will

Stand my ground


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Reunion

Talon didn't know what was going on. He was more or less wandering around, taking a stroll to wind down from the first day of the tournament. He had watched Sun and Neptune's team after his teams match. Needless to say he watched a spectacle. It would've been a decent match like any other…if it wasn't for Neptune. In one of the biggest ways life has a sense of humor/irony, Neptune, despite being named in relation to water, actually feared water. Due to this, and the fact that the arena setting they got stuck with was half water, he froze up and bolted to the enemies' side of the arena and throwing any sense of coordinated teamwork out the window. Talon felt sorry for them, while also wanting to face palm. It actually made him wonder if it was water Neptune was afraid of or just large bodies of water. If it was water, could he even shower without having a slight reaction? Well, it wasn't his business anyway. It was during this time of wandering and thinking that he suddenly became aware of a commotion and a bunch of students gathering around a small area. As he got closer he could hear clanging of metal, which pointed to a fight of some sort. Were there tournament participants who got into it? Could be, especially if someone took losing in the first round badly. He slowly made his way through the crowd until he saw them.

'_He's here_' He thought after several seconds. His father was here, fighting some woman who…actually looks like Weiss now that he thought about it. He was suddenly snapped back to reality for a moment as he heard a voice yelling to the side of him which happened to be Ruby yelling for him to kick the woman's butt. Which was then followed by Weiss, who was also there, stating loudly for the woman named Winter to teach him respect? He slowly made his way over to the two of them, which Ruby noticed.

"Talon! Looklooklook, it's…!"

"I see Little Red." He said with a smile. "I take it she's part of your family." He asked Weiss

"She's my sister. Wait…Ruby said that's her uncle…then…that means he's…?" She said looking at Talon.

"Yep, that's the old man." He said. "He's usually doesn't pick fights with people like this. Judging by his face, I think he's letting off some steam."

"Letting off steam!? You can't be serious." Weiss said as if she was done with this.

"Completely." Both Ruby and Talon said together. Talon's dad and Winter kept slashing at each other, moving to and fro across the ground. Winter finally seemed to land a hit, which only seemed to motivate Talon's dad more as he lifted his blade and slammed it on the ground, destroying a section of the walkway since Winter jumped out of the way. This resulted in them moving further away and toward the building in response. Winter seemed to keep moving away from Talon's dad, running up and along the archways and forcing him to follow as he switched his blade to begin firing at her. Soon though, Winter blasted across her vantage point toward Talon's dad, sending them careening into the ground. Talon's dad took it in stride and once again they were clashing blades. After putting some distance, Winter seemed to prepare for one big strike, which caused Talons dad to start changing his blade, segmenting it out before he seemed to stop and return it to blade for and putting it away. Winter seemed confused by this before Talon's dad wave his finger in a 'come get me' fashion. Winter, in anger, launched at him to strike at his throat before a voice caused her to immediately halt.

"Schnee!" The voice of General Ironwood yells out. Winter lowers her arms as she turns to her superior. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"He started the altercation sir."

"Actually that's not true. She attacked me first." Qrow interjected with his hands behind his head.

"Is that true?" Ironwood asked Winter, who wanted to refute but couldn't deny it. "And you…what are you doing here Qrow?" Ironwood asked as he walked up to Qrow.

"I could be asking you the same thing. Besides, I can't come visit as my family is taking part in the tournament?"

"Now, now, everyone." Came the voice of Ozpin as he came up toward the both of them with Ms. Goodwitch. "There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn." He finished, swirling his mug a little.

"Break it up everyone, there's no more to see here." Ms. Goodwitch stated. Ironwood turned to Winter and gave the indication to for them to leave as he walked off with her and some mechs following. Qrow was about to follow until a missile attached to his arm.

"Uncle Qrow!" Qrow was slightly surprised, but once he saw it was her, he simply lifted his arm up so she was hanging there. "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!?" She asked excitedly

"Nope." He said with a cheeky grin while then rubbing her head.

"So then I guess you didn't miss me either." Talon came up with Weiss slightly behind him. Qrow looked at him with slightly wider eyes.

"Aw C'mon Champ." He said, prying Ruby off his arm. "Of course I would miss you." Talon narrowed his eyes and stepped up a couple feet away from him, crossing his arms.

"I don't believe you." Qrow narrowed his eyes.

"Oh you don't huh?" Both of them starred at each other with narrowed eyes before Qrow suddenly grabbed Talon, put him in a headlock and…grinded his knuckles against his head. "Believe me now!?" Talon struggled against his father's headlock, grunting and cursing a little.

"Get off you freakin…!" Talon after several seconds finally escaped before turning and trying to punch Qrow, who moved away with a smug grin. Most would think Talon had an issue with his father due to the annoyed looked on his face…at least if he was being more successful in smothering a smile creeping onto his face. Their moment was interrupted though.

"Qrow!" Came the voice of Ozpin "While I hate to break up the reunion, a word, please." He says, as Glynda came up after fixing the damage from the fight. Qrow looked at his son and niece.

"I think I'm in trouble." Talon looks at him confused.

"Aren't you always?" Qrow's eyes narrow and he takes a swing at him, only for Talon to move away with a smug grin.

"You did kinda tear up our courtyard." She says with a grin.

"Yeah, I did." He relents and fist bumps Ruby. "I'll Catch you two later so we can catch up." He clamps a hand briefly on Talon's shoulder before walking off. Talon watched him walk away with Ozpin, and once again a voice from years ago echoed in his mind.

…_mission…_

…_burden…_

…_yours to bear…_

"And suddenly, your recklessness makes sense." Came the voice of Weiss after a few seconds of them standing there watching him walk away.

"You're just mad because he whooped butt." Ruby stated.

"That was a draw, at best!" Ruby just grinned.

"Keep telling yourself that Princess." Talon said with no bite.

"Hey!"

*Elsewhere*

"What were you thinking!?" Came the voice of Winter as she and Ironwood saw Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow come off the elevator to Ozpin's office.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" Ironwood added. Qrow simply pulls out a flask and starts swirling the liquid around.

"If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself."

"While I wouldn't _condone_ his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation." Glynda spoke up.

"He was drunk!" Winter tried to defend herself.

"He's _always_ drunk!"

"Hey! I resent that." They stopped and looked at Qrow who was standing there, still swirling his flask. "I may like to drink, but I at least can moderate it."

"What are you talking about? Every time you show up you're drunk." Stated Glynda.

"I am not. Today was the most drunk I've been in a long time. I've learned my lesson." Qrow said with a forlorn look. Everyone buy Ozpin looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Ironwood asked. Ozpin sighed.

"You shouldn't be so hard on Qrow about this. Qrow's drinking problem…nearly cost him his son." Everyone else was shocked before looking at Qrow who was staring at his flask, listening to the liquid sloshing around.

"After Summer…disappeared, I started turning to the bottle more. My wife and son…them being around helped, and I was slowly getting back to normal. Then Armona died in an accident half a year later…leaving me and Talon behind. I tried…I tried so hard with help from Taiyang. But I found myself spiraling down into bottle after bottle, till one night. I was hammered so hard, I couldn't even walk out of the bar I was in. They had to get me out, and so called for someone to get me. It was Talon who came and got me. Talon was eight and a half, such a small thing but still a bit mature. Somehow, with great effort I'm told, he got me out of there and got me home. That next day…I didn't get moving until it was already the afternoon. Talon told me what happened. I know an eight and a half year old isn't intimidating…but I'll never forget that look he had. The whole time, and for quite some time afterward, he only gave me the most disappointed look I've ever seen. To this day…it's one of, if not the biggest regret, of my life." Qrow finished. Everyone simply stood there, shocked by what they heard.

"Then why?"

"Guess old habits are too stubborn to die." Ozpin sighs.

"For now, let's get back on track. Qrow, why are you here?"

*Timeskip*

Talon was alerted as a knocking came on the door of his team's dorm room. He came back after the latest match involving Team CFVY, a disastrous match honestly, and decided to rest with the rest of his team. He went to the door and opened it to find his father standing there.

"Hey champ"

"Hey. So how much trouble were you in?"

"Eh, not much really. Just some misunderstandings." Talon looked like he didn't believe it as much but didn't press.

"Who is this?" Asked Ren, causing Talon to remember that the rest of his team was actually there.

"Oh right, sorry. Guys, this is my dad. Qrow Branwen." Talon introduced as Qrow stepped in looking at the rest of them.

"Sup" He said, raising one hand in greeting.

"This is my team. Pyrrha Nikos, my partner. Lie Ren and his partner Nora Valkyrie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir." Pyrrha said respectfully.

"Hey, none of that. I ain't no sir. Just call me Qrow. You're Talon's friends so there ain't no need for such formalities." Qrow informed her.

"If that's the case, then there's only one thing left to say." Said Nora as she crept up close and right into Qrows face, who only backed up his face a little. No one really reacted to the fact that Nora had somehow in that small span of time put a couple things on the floor in front of Qrow so she could look him in the eye. "Do you like pancakes?" Qrow blinked at her before eyeing Talon out of the corner of his eyes.

"She's like Ruby on a near constant sugar rush." Qrow made a silent 'oh' motion with his face.

"Sure I guess. Been a while but I like them." Nora wasn't sure how to react at that.

"What is with your family? Both of you remember liking them but haven't eaten them in forever."

"Not everyone is going to eat pancakes frequently Nora." Ren stated.

"But they're delicious!" Nora tried defend as she got down and went over to Ren.

"They're certainly lively." Qrow commented. "By the way" He started to whisper. "You haven't had any…issues have you?" The room got very quiet. Qrow noticed this and seemed confused. Talon sighed.

"Dad…they know." Qrow looked at him with wide eyes.

"They…know? What do you mean they know?" He asked, really wanting answers.

"I…I had to use my semblance halfway through last semester. Both my team and Ruby's team saw my hand and…I had to tell them." Qrow slowly let this information sink in, running his hand through his hair.

"Oh geez..." He said, wondering what to do. But then he seemed to realize something. "Wait…you guys…aren't treating him differently." He said, in more of a statement. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren all looked at each other for a while.

"No…we don't." Ren began. "After we found out…it certainly took us a while to come to terms with it. We…more or less avoided Talon till we did. But…after a while we really looked at Talon as a person. He didn't act any different than another person. He tries to help those he can. He acts as if we've known each other for years. So, we all decided. We won't treat him any different than he treats us."

"Yeah. I mean come on, who can say they have the almost embodiment of an otherworldly being as a friend. I mean, sure death wouldn't be my first choice but what can you do? Also, we balance each other out. Him with his dark and gloom and me with my happy and energeticness." Nora added.

"It certainly has been interesting at times. Even now we sometimes get startled by it, but strangely we've grown used to it. He is a good leader, and we know he'd have our backs just as we have his." Talon couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed by his team, scratching his cheek a little.

"Nice to know you guys are bonding over here." Came the voice of Yang as she and her team stood outside the door.

"Which is why we shouldn't be eavesdropping on them Yang." Came the voice of reason known as Weiss.

"Thank you Princess for being considerate, at least publicly." Stated Talon.

"Hey! Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Haven't you guys noticed?" Yang asked confused. Everyone but her, Ruby, Talon and Qrow looked confused.

"Talon does that with people he likes. It's something he got from Uncle Qrow. If he views you in a good light he gives you a nickname. Though I don't think he does it consciously most of the time." Talon shrugged.

"So, Pinky, Ninja Boy, Invincible Girl, Princess…" Ren counted off.

"Blake is Bookworm, no offense." Blake shrugged. "Ruby is Little Red, and Yang is firecracker. Honestly got hers from dad." Qrow smirked. They continued to chat for some time till Qrow had to leave. He pulled Talon into a one arm hug.

"You've met some great kids here."

"Yeah…I guess coming here ended up being the best decision." He said smiling.

"Yeah it was. I'm sure she'd be ecstatic for you." Qrow said with a sad smile.

"I hope so…" They grew silent for a moment.

"Well, I gotta go. Duty awaits tomorrow and all that." And with that Qrow departed. Talon was glad to have seen him. For now, they had to separate, but Talon knows his dad won't go down easy. He aims to be just as good, if not better. But first, he had to get through the tournament.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Resolve to Choose

Talon was sitting on his bed, putting some maintenance on his weapon Dark Premonition. The tournament was continuing and his team was still doing well. It was night right now, so there wasn't much to do. Ren and Nora were off doing…something or other. So with a little down time, and as such having time to kill, he decided to check his weapon over. Things were going well. Unfortunately, after living with his father for as long as he did, he knew it couldn't last. No offense to his dad of course, just with his semblance it gave Talon early on that things will go downhill at some point. So he knew he should cherish it while he can. Suddenly Pyrrha entered through the door.

"Hey Invincible Girl." Talon greeted. Pyrrha however jolted a little in surprise.

"Oh uh…hey Talon." She said, doing her best to smile. Talon looked at her a little surprised.

"Something up?" He asked. Pyrrha seemed uncomfortable.

"Oh no no, I was just um…talking to Professor Ozpin. He um…congratulated our team, and gave me some praise. I um…really just feel uncomfortable with how people uh…seem to put me on a pedestal so I've been trying to…you know get myself grounded again." Pyrrha tried to explain. Talon starred at her for a while in confusion. Something was definitely up with Pyrrha, but it seemed she didn't want to talk about it.

"Ok, if you say so. But Pyrrha, do remember we are teammates. If there's something wrong, I am here if you need to talk." Pyrrha's eyes widened at that before smiling.

"Thank you Talon. I know, and if I do need to, I will make sure to let you know." Talon nodded. He wasn't sure if she would, but it was necessary to at least let her know should the situation arise.

*Time Skip*

Talon hated when he was right. The next day of the tournament came, and it seemed like it was going to be an exciting day. Of course that's how days always start, but then they always go further downhill. It came to the single matches finally and the match that was highlighting the day was Yang against Mercury. The match began and proceeded pretty well, at least until the end. Talon was watching, it happened right in front of him, and yet he couldn't believe what happened. The match had pretty much ended, and yet for some reason Yang had suddenly jumped at her opponent and attacked him out of nowhere. This resulted in injury and Mercury being taken away. Yang was now in trouble and likely to receive some form of punishment. Talon was currently standing outside his team's doorway, waiting as General Ironwood was inside talking. After a while Ironwood came out and looked at Talon before nodding and taking off. Talon wanted to immediately go and check on Yang, but decided to give her time. After a while, everyone but Yang came out of the room.

"This is a mess..." Weiss said, sighing.

"How's she doing?" Talon asked, just as the rest of his team opened the door to their room, outside of Pyrrha who was sitting on her bed.

"She's…doing the best she can." Blake answered. The pause she made spoke volumes.

"I heard Mercury and his team rushed back to Haven to be with his family. So, until they land, no one can really question him about what happened." Ruby supplied.

"If there's anything we can do, please don't hesitate to ask." Ren offered.

"Well then. Pyrrha…make sure you win one for Beacon, okay?" Ruby requested.

"It's what Yang would want." Weiss added. Pyrrha looked down a little before looking back up, trying to look confident.

"I'll... do my best." The three of them soon left, leaving Team PLTN to their devices. Pyrrha started looking down, lost in thought until…

"You heard the lady!" Suddenly came the voice of Nora, who somehow had changed into workout clothes in less than 5 seconds. She was now in front of Pyrrha grinning madly. "No more moping around! We gotta get your butt in shape for the big fight! It could be today, it could be tomorrow." Nora says all while doing various exercise moves as a way to get Pyrrha pumped up. "It could be the most important fight of your entire life!" She finishes by lifting a bar that seemingly appeared out of nowhere that on the ends had writing that said 1000 lbs. Nora held it for a few seconds before it proved to be too much and she fell over. Talon walked over and inspected the scene before him.

"How much does that actually weigh?" He asked, knowing there was no way it was 1000 lbs or it would've fallen straight through the floor.

"350…" Nora replied groaning. Pyrrha was unsure of how to respond to this, though Nora's antics did amuse her.

"Nora's right." Pyrrha hears the voice of Ren, who when she looks is for some reason wearing an apron that says 'Please do nothing to the cook' on. "You can't let your concern for Yang hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be defending the honor of Beacon Academy."

"Of course. I-" Pyrrha tried to begin. Ren suddenly puts a glass filled with green liquid in front of her.

"This blend of herbs and vegetables is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being."

"Oh, that's-"

"Please, there's no need to thank me." Nora had other thoughts about this.

"Thank you? Ugh, that looks like slime from a lakebed!"

"Algae contains numerous spectacular properties. See for yourself." Ren gave some to Nora who actually tried some before regretting it and proceeding to vomit up the liquid in a trash can.

"BLEGH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Ugh..."

"Me? You're the one that wasted perfectly good juice." The two proceeded to argue a little about the matter.

"Ren, unfortunately I have to agree with Nora." Talon said, holding the juice in his hand.

"Et tu Talon?"

"I would prefer what I'm consuming to actually taste good, not taste as if I've consumed liquid moss. Besides, I think we need to relax. There isn't much any of us can do to better prepare with so short amount of time. Let's relax and enjoy our time." All of them looked at each other before nodding.

*Time Skip*

The team spent some time enjoying the festivities of the tournament. Pyrrha eventually finds herself with Talon while Ren and Nora off doing something else. Talon is currently eating some cotton candy.

"I actually never had cotton candy before. I'm glad I could enjoy some. Want any?" he offers to Pyrrha.

"Oh uh…no actually. I'm not too fond of overly sweet stuff, especially after that cereal deal." She said, referencing the Pumpkin Pete's cereal that she had an endorsement with. Pyrrha's face kind of falls a little as Talon continues to eat.

"Are you ever going to speak about what's troubling you?" Pyrrha looks up in shock.

"Huh? I don't-" Pyrrha says before Talon cuts her off.

"Pyrrha…we're teammates. I'd like to think even friends. I have seen many things, and experienced depressive ideas numerous times. It's not hard to tell that something is on your mind and that it's weighing you down. You're not even as talkative as you usually are, so something is bothering you." Pyrrha kind of realizes this and feels even worse. "I don't proclaim to know what it is or if I could help you, but sitting there and letting it cloud your mind is not going to help. So even if I can just lend an ear or something, I am willing to do so." Pyrrha stares at him for a moment, before smiling fondly in a sad way. They sit there for a while as a breeze blows by. A single maple leaf floats by as Pyrrha watches it tumble in the wind.

"I…I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in destiny?" Talon is shocked by this question, and also confused on how it is relevant. He gets a far off look while thinking about it though.

"Destiny huh? I guess that depends on the circumstances." He replies.

"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape. But rather... some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life."

"Really? Huh…well then, I guess you and I are the same."

"Really?" Pyrrha is shocked by this.

"Yeah. I've never really thought of it as destiny though. But a final goal that you work towards, that I agree with 100%. It's what defines you, and gives your life meaning. It's what you will be remembered for." Pyrrha smiles at this, before getting sad again.

"Well... what would you do if something came along that you... never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"

"Like what?"

"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?"

"Pyrrha, what are you talking about?"

"Because I don't know! None of it makes sense! This isn't how things were supposed to happen!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she stood up, losing it.

"Pyrrha!" Talon exclaimed, standing up and grabbing her shoulders. Pyrrha halted in her rant in shock, before being slowly guided back to her seat by Talon. Talon sat next to her and sighed. "It certainly seems like you're in a situation. A rock and a hard place situation by what you said." Pyrrha didn't confirm nor deny the statement, which Talon guessed was confirmation enough. "Pyrrha, let me tell you something I came up with as a motto." Pyrrha looked at Talon, who looked back with a serious look. "Think with your mind, act with your heart. Keep your heart strong, keep your mind in check, and you may survive the storms to come."

Pyrrha looked at Talon in shock and confusion.

"What…does that mean?" She asked for clarification.

"It's something I came up with over the years." Talon looked down and then at his hand. "I know, more than most what it means to live through dark and troubled experiences." Talon starred at his hand for a while before looking back at Pyrrha. "As a result of living alone a lot, one tends to get stuck in their head and think. Which, for me led me to start having thoughts that were…I guess philosophical in nature. Eventually I came up with that saying as a sort of reminder of how to not let myself go down depressive roads based on these thoughts and what I saw in people I encountered over the years." At this Talon held up one finger. "First, some people tend to over think things. Their minds wander and toward thoughts that make them question if what they are doing is right or not. Or they think and think, but don't actually act until it's too late. I admit I'm usually guilty of that one." Talon held up a second finger. "Second, some people act without thinking, which leads to misunderstandings. Further, some people face a hardship and feel devastated, then experience more which leads them down dark roads that…well they don't walk away from." Talon put his hand down and looked toward the sky. "I want to live. I want to enjoy all I can out of my life. So, I made that saying. Think with your mind on all the facts, and then act on what your heart feels is the right choice. Don't let your mind overwhelm you, and keep your heart strong to weather the storms that come, from both the choices you make and the random experiences life throws at you. If you do all of this, you may just make it through whatever comes your way." Pyrrha was stunned. It was such a simple way to view things, and honestly it made a ton of sense. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"So…just follow what I think is right…based on all the circumstances?"

"Pretty much. You know yourself better than anyone, and I know you will make what you feel is the right choice. Just calmly think about it, and decide. The three of us will stand by you whatever you choose. So long as you stay strong, you will make it through whatever happens." It was at that moment that Talon suddenly found himself being hugged. Talon was shocked as he wasn't hugged that often, nor was he ever hugged by Pyrrha, but here he was. He slowly hugged back. "I'm guessing that helped?" Pyrrha started to laugh a little before she pulled back with a few tears threatening to escape.

"More than you could know." She composed herself. "I didn't take you for a philosophical type though."

"Like I said, when one is alone for a long time with dark thoughts…those thoughts start to feel like home. I'm not sure why they turned out that way, they just did." Pyrrha laughed a little.

"Seriously though, thank you. I feel…relieved." Talon smiled.

"Just doing what I can Invincible Girl." Talon replied.

*Time skip*

Talon sat in the crowd as Pyrrha was chosen for the upcoming match. He hoped his speech and motto helped. It wasn't like a mantra he said over and over again; just something he remembered when things were getting rough. Pyrrha slowly came out onto the field, with Penny also coming out as well. Talon looked at Pyrrha, examining the way she held herself. She still acted like whatever it was bothering her was still on her mind, but now she seemed to hold a sense of determination, a sense of resolve. He only hoped that she would be able to weather the consequences of her choice, just as he has had to weather the consequences of his.

**Have a Pleasant Halloween: aka just eat a bunch of candy for yourselves due to covid screwing things up as usual.**


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